


An Eclectic Catalogue of Ideas

by Cleddyf



Category: Dishonored (Video Games), Elder Scrolls, Highschool DxD (Anime), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: F/M, Fantasy, Gen, Magic-User Midoriya Izuku, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:01:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 33,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28663626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cleddyf/pseuds/Cleddyf
Summary: A series of chapters from works I plan on writing sometime in the future.
Relationships: Fleur Delacour/Harry Potter, Harry Potter & The Outsider, Harry Potter/Nymphadora Tonks, Midoriya Izuku & Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Sirius Black & Harry Potter
Comments: 32
Kudos: 31





	1. Chapter 1

A friend of mine suggested this, as I'd mentioned I had a few chapters written of stories in the past while that I wanted to play with in the future.

Consider anything in this work to be on the back burner. I'll copy things to their own work when I decide to focus on a story, after I'm finished one of my other stories. Basically if it's just in here, don't expect updates on the story unless I feel like it. :-)


	2. Harry Potter and the New World 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry follows Nymphadora and Sirius through the Veil. Cue Isekai adventure.

**_Through the Veil, a Whole New World_ **

Sometimes, a single difference is all it takes to change fate.

They were within the Department of Mysteries, and battle was under way. Harry Was standing near Neville, trying to help the other boy to his feet. Not far away, a jet of light narrowly missed Sirius, and Harry heard Bellatrix cackling in glee, triumphant, as he saw Tonks blasted off her feet and sent flying, slamming into Sirius.

Sirius staggered backwards towards the stone archway, what Hermione had called the Veil of Death. Harry heard Remus cry out, "No!" before he saw both Sirius and Tonks fall through, the diaphanous black curtain covering the arch fluttering as they passed. Harry stared for a moment, not sure what happened, and he left Neville's side, "Sirius? What happened?" They disappeared. They couldn't be gone.

He approached the archway, only to hear Remus' panicked voice, "Harry, get away from there!" He could hear soft whispering, and almost by instinct he dodged a green spell as it struck the wall near him.

"I KILLED HIM! AND THAT MUDBORN BITCH TOO!" Harry heard Bellatrix cackle, and he whirled, staring at her, then glancing at the strange object.

"No." Harry said this quietly, " _No_." Sirius couldn't be dead. His parents were dead. He'd seen Cedric die right in front of him. Not Sirius too, not when they'd actually started to talk, to get to know each other! Harry dashed forward, ducking under Remus' arm as the man tried to grab him.

And they all saw Harry disappear into the Veil, the curtain fluttering behind him before falling still once more.

HPHPHPHPHP

Harry felt an odd squeezing sensation as if his entire body was being crushed then expanded. He couldn't breath. At his temple he felt intense heat, a burning that was beyond painful. He heard a brief, hissing cry as _something_ happened, energy surging through his body.

It was then that Harry landed on his hands and knees, quite literally faceplanting as he lifted his head, spitting out a bit of dirt. And he thought floo travel was annoying. Where was he? What... Sirius!

Harry looked around frantically in the dark, and relaxed when he saw a pair of forms struggling to their feet not far away. Sirius and Tonks. "Sirius! Tonks! What happened?"

"Harry, what're you doing here?" Sirius paused, "We fell through the bloody Veil, we should be dead. _Tell_ me you didn't come running in after us!"

Harry saw Tonks' hair turn red at Sirius' words. He explained, "I saw Bellatrix blast Tonks into you and you disappeared. So I..."

"So you ran through the Veil after us." Sirius put a hand over his face, sighing, "Harry, that was dumb. And it's me saying so so you should know it's true; I've done a _lot_ of stupid things in my time."

Harry looked down, and said, "I'd just found you, I couldn't let you die. Especially as it was my bloody fault you were there in the first place."

"Hey," Sirius said, "Hey, kid, it wasn't your fault." He moved towards him, hugging him. He frowned slightly as Harry went stiff before he managed to relax. He'd noticed that, before. That was something he'd have to look into in the future.

Tonks slowly approached them, "Not to break this up, but where are we? Why aren't we dead?" A pause, "Are we dead?"

"I don't feel dead," Sirius said to her, "I don't know where we are though," he said, looking around. Then he glanced up. And stared. "I... don't think we're on Earth anymore."

They all followed Sirius' gaze to the moons. Plural. There were three moons in the sky: a large white moon and two smaller moons, one red and one blue. "Bloody hell," Tonks stated. "Where are we?"

Sirius shook his head, "I have no idea." He took a breath, looking around, "Right. There's no arch or other obvious way to return home. We need to find out where we are, and we can take it from there." He looked from Harry to Tonks, "I'm going to take a quick look around. Tonks, keep an eye on Harry while I'm gone." With that, his form blurred and a black dog loped off into the darkness.

Even as Sirius disappeared into the trees, Harry ran his fingers through his hair, sighing. He looked at Tonks and all he could say was, "Sorry, Tonks. This is all a mess."

"It's definitely a mess," Tonks agreed as she wandered closer, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. She frowned as she too noticed him tense slightly at her touch, and let her hand fall. "There's nothing to apologize for. We're still alive. Somehow. We'll deal with it."

Harry really wanted to argue, but refrained. He just, sighed, waiting, and a few minutes later, Sirius returned. Running his hand through his hair as he shifted back, he said, "I found an old cobblestone road." As he spoke, he pointed, "That way. I also saw a city in the distance, maybe ten miles away."

This at least took Harry's mind off his worries. He reached a hand into his pocket and pulled out his broom, tapping it with his wand to unshrink it. He'd stolen it back from Umbridge after Hermione sent her to the centaurs. "This can easily hold two, and I bet three if we're careful, and is a lot faster than walking."

"Oh, that's your Firebolt, I've always wanted to have a try on it," Tonks said after a moment, grinning. Harry nodded at her and gestured and she hopped up behind him on the broom, slipping an arm around him to steady herself.

Harry glanced at Sirius, "You coming?"

"Probably better to not. I can run pretty fast as Padfoot, and we don't want to approach the city in the air anyway, it might cause problems," Sirius said after a moment's thought. "Just skim the road till we're maybe a half mile from the city and then we walk in."

"I guess that makes sense. If it's something like a muggle city, we don't want to reveal anything," Tonks said. "'course, this being another bloody world, we don't know what's what anyway."

As Harry nodded, Sirius again turned into a dog and loped off. This time, Harry followed him on the broom, skimming along behind him. Ten minutes, they found themselves leaving the trees and coming upon a road. It was old, and paved with old stones. "This looks like one of those Roman roads, I saw one on a class trip once," Harry said.

He could feel Tonks nodding her head behind him as she stated, "I saw a road like this not far from London." They began to fly along the road, heading in the direction of the city in the distance.

HPHPHPHPHP

As they had to keep pace with Sirius-as-Padfoot, it took them almost two hours to make the journey to the city. Stopping a distance away from the city, Harry pulled out his wand, shrinking the broom and putting it in his pocket. Sirius transformed, saying, "We'll want to be careful. Let me do the talking. You're my son, and you're his girlfriend," he said to Tonks. "All right?"

"Harry, did you know I was your girlfriend?" Tonks teased him, "We haven't even kissed yet, we should get on that," she said, clinging to his arm. She smirked as he blushed.

"Tonks!" Harry stared at her.

"Don't give the kid a heart attack," is all Sirius said, chuckling softly as he led them towards the city gates. The city looked rather archaic, with huge wood and metal gates. The city walls were perhaps five meters high and solid stone.

As they approached the gates, they saw a tall older man with a closely-shaved gray beard step out of a small door. "Halt! What brings you to Leycroft?" He wore what looked like brigandine armor. At his side was a sword.

"We're travelers." Taking in the armor and sword, Sirius continued, "Our mounts were driven off by wild animals, and most of our supplies went with them. Luckily we were close enough to the city to walk. I'm Sirius Black. This is my son, Harry, and his betrothed, Dora Tonks."

"Mmm," the man said, looking over all three of them, examining each in turn, carefully. "I'm Tef. You're welcome to Leycroft, though if you wish to stay long term, you'll need to find work. We're always looking for those who have knowledge of crafts or magic, and if you're of the more doughty sort, joining the Guild counts as employed as long as you can pay for accommodations. Apprenticeships or the Academy also count as employment." He disappeared through the door he emerged from and returned with what looked like three small stone coins. "These are your identification. Return in two weeks with proof of employment and you'll be issued a residency sigil."

Sirius accepted the sigils, offering one to Harry and then Tonks, "Thank you, sir. How much would an inn cost, and do you accept foreign coinage?"

"A room at an inn varies. One fit for a merchant might cost two or three silver talens a night and would come with breakfast and dinner. And we do accept foreign currency; most merchants have scales," Tef explained. "Just come in and we'll let you through, we don't open the gates during the night."

"Ah, good, I have some gold coins I can use," Sirius said with a nod. "Thank you, sir," He said, as he followed, gesturing to Harry and Tonks.

Once they got through, and walked down the street a ways, Harry said, "Wow. I feel like I'm in the middle ages or something. Did you see his armor? It looked _cool_."

"Boys," Tonks said dryly, "It does look weird though, like a medieval city." She paused as she came to an intersection with glowing balls of light set in sconces, "Okay, medieval magical city, that's almost like Hogsmeade at night."

"We're going to have to get jobs. Or perhaps study, they mentioned an Academy," Sirius said after a moment. "Between you and I, we'll be able to teach Harry magic. Well, our magic. This world obviously has magic of its own. It might be interesting learning how it's different."

Harry snorted, "Even in another bloody world, people talk about schooling." He was amused though, "Probably for the best to learn as much as I can. I wonder what 'guild' they were talking about."

"Don't know. Could be just a craft thing, but they said you needed to be doughty, so I'm going to guess it's something else," said Sirius. "We can do some research later. I'm just glad they speak English. Or we somehow speak their language, who knows."

"It _sounds_ like they're speaking English," Harry said after a moment. "But it'd be really strange if they actually were."

Shrugging, Tonks commented, "Does it matter, really? We can talk to people, that's all to the good. Let's get a room so I can sleep with my betrothed." She grinned at Harry's blush, "Thanks, Sirius. This is _never_ going to get old."

"Why did you say she was my betrothed, anyway?" Harry complained.

"Because I saw the road and the city from a distance; it didn't look like a modern city," Sirius said with a shrug, "I was covering bases. It may have looked odd to have her traveling with us without some sort of connection. She's too old to be my daughter. It was either you or me, and honestly, Harry, I just couldn't. I helped change her diapers." He grinned at Tonks' glare. "I guess I could have had a sister, but this was more fun." He grinned.

"Do you not want to be my betrothed?" Tonks asked as she pouted at Harry, making her eyes even bigger than usual to accentuate the expression. She loved teasing him.

"Tonks, stop it, you're a wonderful girl, that's not the issue," Harry assured her without thinking. He didn't notice her slight blush at his words, as he ran his fingers through his hair.

Sirius smirked as he watched them and mentally made a note. Tease more in the future, this might bear fruit.

But for now, time to find an inn.

HPHPHPHPHP

"Hey, you guys won't believe this!" Tonks said as she entered their room. She'd spent most of the day walking around the city in other forms, asking questions.

"What's wrong, Tonks?" Harry asked. He'd been sitting with Sirius, talking quietly.

"This world is _weird_ , it's almost like a video game or fantasy story. No stats, but still. That guild they mentioned? An 'adventurer's guild'. They hire people to go out and kill monsters. There's a lot of them around, apparently. Imagine a world where there are bloody wargs and trolls and other things running around willy-nilly. They even mentioned a _dungeon_ in a nearby city."

"A dungeon?" Sirius stared at Tonks, "You mean where you store prisoners?" He was a pureblood who never played video games or read much muggle literature.

"No, one where lots of monsters are. Apparently they appear naturally where magic is very strong, it's a way for the magic to drain safely, or some such. Otherwise, boom." She shook her head. "The guild is used to protect people from monsters, it's got a mandate in most of the kingdoms around here."

"So people just become adventurers and fight monsters?" Sirius said musingly, "Sounds like being a hit wizard without all the paperwork." He paused, "You mentioned magic, did you learn anything about it?"

"Yeah, actually, I asked around the guild, posed as a clueless newbie from the sticks." Tonks said lightly, "Magic here is based on spirits. You bond to a spirit of some sort and can learn to do magic, though not everyone can establish a bond. Most seem to bond to elementals. Y'know, air, earth, fire, and water? They also have wood and metal. But there are other spirits. Light, shadow, and more. Some big name hero years back was apparently bonded to an archon, basically an angel. Magic here seems a lot more flashy and powerful than we're used to, but more focused from the stories I heard. Some guy at the guild is bonded to a metal elemental. I saw him shatter a sword with his fist during a duel and another sword just bounced off him."

"Only one spirit? Can you choose?" Sirius asked curiously.

"You can't choose, they said. What is called when the summoning ritual is performed is what you get, kind of like becoming an animagus. Most can only do it once. Some people with stronger magic can perform the ritual multiple times. Apparently if you can bond to multiple spirits, you -can- choose which one you bond to first, though. The hero I mentioned apparently bonded six spirits," Tonks said.

"Huh, that sounds interesting. We'll have to pick up books on it," Sirius said. "We already know our magic works here, but this world's magic would be fun to learn. Anything else?"

"The guild mentioned ritual and runic magic that anyone with a bonded spirit can do. It sounds a lot like our own, though the rules are probably different," Tonks said with a shrug.

"This is cool," Harry interjected. "I wonder if we'll be able to bond a spirit. How do you do it?"

"You either hire someone or join the adventurer's guild. They perform the ritual for you," Tonks said. "Hiring someone is pretty expensive, as it requires exotic materials. The guild does it free, but you have to work for them for at least a year."

"In my case," Sirius said after a moment, "I guess I join the guild for a year. It sounds like interesting work."

Tonks nodded at him, "Me too. What about you, Harry?"

"I'm not sure I like the idea of killing things," Harry admitted, "But they are monsters who hurt people, right? I could probably do it. I've already done it before, even if I nearly died."

"Wait." Tonks stared at Harry, "Did it before?"

"Yeah. My second year," Harry said to her. "There was this business with people getting petrified because the Chamber of Secrets was opened." He admitted, "People found out I was a parselmouth, so they all said I was a Dark wizard, I got hexed a lot, and the teachers didn't do anything about it," he said, shoulders slumping. "Anyway, eventually I found the entrance and went down inside to save Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister. Turned out she was writing in this magical diary, and it was possessing her somehow. There was a huge basilisk down there, longer than fifty feet. I killed it with a sword, but nearly died. I would have if Fawkes hadn't cried on the wound."

"Please tell me you're joking," Sirius almost begged.

"I'd heard about some trouble, but _nothing_ about you killing a basilisk," Tonks said, staring. "Granted, I was busy with auror training but still."

Harry pulled up his sleeve to show a large, shiny patch of skin on his arm, lifting it to show the other side, "Well, I did. Bit me when I stabbed it too." He gave a few more details, shrugging.

Sirius _really_ didn't like how blasé Harry was about his adventure. He looked at him a moment, then sighed, "Well, sounds like we do the adventurer thing. What're the rules, Tonks?"

"We have to do at least one bounty a month, though if we want to make money to live, we'll have to do more anyway," she said. "Bounties range from hunting monsters outside the city to going into a dungeon, though that only happens in places that _have_ dungeons. The closest one is up in Rook, the capitol of this region."

"Hmm, what do you think, Harry?" Sirius asked, wanting Harry to have input; he knew how much Harry hated having people decide everything for him.

Harry considered, smiling a bit, "I think it depends on how hard it would be to get to this Rook place. If it's not that difficult, we could practice doing things here first for a bit of experience, then move up to Rook to try the dungeon. I bet a dungeon would be more consistent. If it'd take a while to get there, we might as well get it over with and go up to Rook, even though we haven't fought any monsters here before."

Tonks agreed with Harry, saying, "That makes sense. And from what I understand, travel to Rook is easy enough along the highway, though it'll take us days to walk it. Shorter if we get enough money to get space on one of the stagecoaches. I _think_ we should be fine for money, if we try. Between Sirius and I, we should be able to handle weaker monsters. I was trained by Mad-Eye, after all, and Sirius was training as a hit wizard before... well."

"And Harry can help out too," Sirius said, nodding, though he was going to make sure Harry kept in the rear. He knew better than to try to keep Harry in the town. He nodded his head. "Okay, then. First stop is the Guild to join up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a fair bit of exposition, but I felt it good to get a basis on the world's magic and other details so I could expand on them in story.
> 
> Should be fun having Sirius, Tonks, and Harry bond to spirits. I already have some ideas for Sirius and Tonks. Harry is a lot more open as he's getting a few.
> 
> In general, how I'm envisioning this world's magic is it's stronger than Potterverse magic, but a lot more focused. You can do everything in HP magic with proper training, but not in this world's magic. It's more than just throwing elements around, though. Water magic can heal. Fire magic has a few strong abilities in that direction as well, though it's a lot more difficult. Earth Magic can let you phase through solid objects. And so on. But without some sort of necessary spirit, they can't apparate. Well, they do have the equivalent of Vanishing Cabinets. :)


	3. A Twin to the Past 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Britain grows darker in spite of a war won, one man gets a chance to make a difference and change the future - and the past - for the better.

**_Prologue_ **

If there was one thing to know about George Weasley, it was that he loved his family.

Fred was family.

Harry was family.

Even _Percy_ was family, the smarmy prat.

In the wake of Voldemort's defeat, things didn't change as much as they could have. George knew that. He hadn't really been paying attention. At first, he was dealing with Fred's death, or trying to at any rate. If it hadn't been for Harry and Ron, he didn't think he'd have ever gotten past it. And then, he and Ron focused on the store.

Ron was actually a really good businessman, which surprised George. But while he wasn't paying attention, while Ron helped with the store, while Harry and Hermione attended Hogwarts for their final year, things _were_ happening.

So many laws had been passed during Pius Thicknesse's tenure, and they had to be voted out by the Wizengamot.

A Wizengamot that had been gutted by various laws.

Laws that blocked so many with a Wizengamot seat from taking that seat. Due to blood purity. Due to money. Due to lack of support. The list went on. And then, Kingsley Shacklebolt was voted out of office by the Wizengamot, and Amos Diggory became Minister of Magic.

That's when the gloves really started to come off.

It started in a trickle. Kingsley wasn't rehired by the Auror department. Diggory started to replace various heads with people loyal to him. It was slow but sure, and Diggory had a lot of support in the Wizengamot, though he didn't know why at first.

You see, the problem is Voldemort had had too much _time_. Time to destroy an already corrupt system. Killing him stopped the immediate conflict, but it didn't stop his ideas. The Wizengamot were in the hands of people who truly believed in blood purity or just wanted power, and they moved to consolidate their power.

And Diggory helped them for one reason.

Harry Potter.

Diggory _hated_ Harry Potter.

He had never forgiven him for the death of his son.

George realized later that business as usual had returned to the Ministry. That Diggory supported the conservative faction that had once been led by Lucius Malfoy and was now led by Theodore Nott.

In return, Diggory got Harry Potter.

No more than six months after the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry found himself arrested by the aurors and charged with a variety of crimes. He wasn't even allowed to truly defend himself and he was sent to Azkaban for life. Guilty on all charges.

He heard from Percy that Diggory _smiled_ when he watched the sentence being handed out.

The people, so tired from the war, accepted it. After all, he was convicted. He had to be guilty. It was Harry's Fifth Year all over again.

Britain's people were sheep.

George Weasley loved his family. But some part of him _hated_ the people of magical Britain.

Harry was lucky, in a way.

Ron and Hermione were arrested as well, and Diggory didn't care about making them suffer before dying. He just wanted to punish them for being Harry's closest friends. To punish Harry by destroying those closest to him. They received the Kiss.

He still had nightmares about the night he visited the hospital, where they were placed afterwards. Their faces. Nothing was left. They were empty shells.

Things began to grow darker once more. Muggleborns lost more of their rights, and many left the country. It wasn't a war now, it was just politics. And because it didn't affect them, again, people just accepted it. They were tired of war.

And then George heard from Percy. Heard that Diggory had told Harry about his friends' deaths, and that soon, a dementor would 'go rogue' and administer the Kiss to Harry.

And that is when George made a decision.

It was time to do something. _He_ would not be a sheep.

HPHPHPHPHP

George stood looking over the water at Azkaban. Beside him were Neville and Luna. He needed them as he couldn't produce a Patronus anymore. And in Azkaban? A Patronus was definitely needed. He looked towards the couple, "You two ready? You can back out."

"No. No we can't," Neville stated. "Ron and Hermione didn't deserve what they got. Harry doesn't deserve this, nor what's coming to him." Luna merely nodded, her gaze lacking its usual dreamy quality. "We have to save him."

"We won't be able to stay in Britain if we do this," George warned, one last time.

"I and Neville have already moved our money to the United States. After we save Harry, we're moving there. Where do you plan on taking him?" Luna asked.

"France. My brother Bill is staying with the Delacours, I'm pretty sure they would be willing to help Harry," George explained.

"They would," Luna said. Her eyes went distant, "Your brother Bill has always been loyal, and his wife's family support him. He'll need that soon."

Neville's brow rose at Luna's words, but he simply nodded, accepting what she said. He was used to her odd statements. "So, how're we working this?"

"There are only three guards on Azkaban at any one time, in addition to the Warden. With the war over, they don't seem to think they need more. They depend on the Dementors. Percy told me when they will be changing shifts. We will disable the three new guards, and I have polyjuice brewed: enough for six hours for each of us. Percy also gave me the code phrase so we can verify our identities to the guards going off duty. Once they're gone, we go in, stun the warden, go to Harry, and rescue him. And leave. Easy peasy." He knew it might not be that easy.

"That sounds too easy. But you did say they're overconfident due to the war being over," Neville said with a frown.

"Well, that's the information I was given. If it's wrong, we're probably screwed," George said prosaically. "But I need to do something. I can't let someone else in my family die."

"We're with you," Luna said to him, as she took Neville's hand. She whispered, too low to be heard, "Even if we fail, it's the right thing to do."

Soon, the guards appeared, and a trio of stunning spells took them down. George moved towards the dock and knelt, carefully stripping them naked and taking their things. He moved them to a nearby shed and placed each one inside. Cutting a lock of hair from each, he approached the dock. It was time.

Using the polyjuice, each changed into their new clothes and took the boat over to Azkaban. Arriving, a man called, "Who goes there?"

"Aurors. We're here to take over. Pass phrase is 'Yellow Seven'," George called.

"Come on in, then," the voice said. When they arrived, they saw three people standing there. "Glad to get off the island," the speaker said. "I _hate_ Dementors."

"How're the prisoners? Any trouble?" George wondered.

"Nah. They just whimper and cry for the most part. Potter is still silent, he hasn't spoken for a while, not since we moved a pair of Dementor outside his cell full time," the man said with a laugh.

George barely stopped himself from killing the man. He nodded, "Well, we'll take over. You three have a drink and relax." He waited for them to take the boat and heated into the prison, flanked by Neville and Luna's patronuses.

It didn't take them long to find the warden in his quarters and stun the man. Locking his door, the moved to the maximum security section. There were a lot of Dementors wandering the area. George's mind kept replaying memories. Fred. Ron and Hermione.

Finally, they reached Harry's cell. The Dementors outside took one look at Neville's bear and Luna's hare patronuses and floated down the hall, fleeing. George moved to open the door and knelt by Harry. "Harry. Harry, wake up."

He saw Harry's eyes open, but they didn't-- couldn't?-- focus. After a few seconds, he managed to whisper, "George?"

"Yes, Harry. It's me. Come on. We're getting you out of here," George said. He tried to help Harry up but he couldn't stand, so George gestured with his wand and levitated him out the door. He said to Luna and Neville, "We have to leave."

"All right," Neville said. They made their way down the steps to the courtyard. And stopped.

Standing in the courtyard were aurors. Over ten of them. "Put your wands down!" the leader ordered them.

"Aw, stuff it, Dawlish," snapped George as he carefully set Harry on the cobblestones near the doorway and walked into the courtyard to draw their focus away from Harry. "What brings you here?" Beside him, Luna and Neville followed, pointing their wands at the aurors.

"Your brother," drawled Dawlish. "Fool didn't realize that the Minister has a legilimens on staff. It didn't take long to discover what your plan was, and he didn't even realize it was happening. He'll be joining you here, soon."

"Right," George said. He suddenly snapped his wand forward in an arc, and a purple cutting curse sprayed outwards. Dawlish blocked it with a shield charm, and battle was joined as the trio spread apart, batting away the occasional curse. It reminded George of the final battle.

Spells continued to fly, and more than one of the aurors went down. "Hah!" George called, "We didn't fight Voldemort for nothing, while you sat on your arses!" More spells came sizzling back and forth, and finally, he heard Luna cry out. He glanced to the side and saw her arm dangling, shattered by a spell. She was holding her wand in her other hand, but it was obvious she was in trouble.

It didn't help that the courtyard was so bloody _cold_. There were too many dementors around. George noticed Dawlish's gaze flicker behind him and he turned. Harry lay near the doorway still, but hovering over him was a Dementor.

It was Kissing him.

"NO!" George cried out, turning to rush towards him. A patronus. He had to produce a patronus. After all of this, he couldn't stand there and watch Harry die.

The choice was taken out of his hands as light seemed to explode out of Harry. The sound of a screeching dementor could be heard as George felt the impact as the explosion hit him.

And then he knew nothing at all.

HPHPHPHPHP

George woke up. Looking around, he found himself back at the shop. How...? What was going on?

"Hello," came a deep voice, a resonant bass rumble. Whirling, George turned and came face to face with a tall black man. He looked a little like how Kingsley might look if he were very old, with distinguished features and a closely-cut gray beard.

"Who are you?" George asked.

"You know who I am." For a single instant, George saw the man's face flicker, becoming a skull before returning to its austere appearance. "I had a question for you. Why did you try to help my Chosen?"

"Your Chosen? You mean Harry?" George asked.

"Yes. He is the last Peverell. He is my Chosen," Death stated.

"Because he is family. He and Ginny never worked out, but that doesn't matter. He always stood by us, and we stand by him," George said. "What's all of this about?"

"You died; that's what it's about. When the dementor tried to devour my Chosen's soul, there was a backlash. Foolish creature. His soul is... protected by his heritage. I'm afraid said backlash caused an explosion that leveled Azkaban."

"His heritage?" George asked, before slumping, "So I didn't save him. And now Luna and Neville are gone, too."

"Yes. The story you wizards tell is wrong, but it's based upon truth. Long ago, a Peverell lost his daughter to me due to illness. She was his only child, and he loved her with all his heart. He performed a forbidden rite, and did something extraordinary. He brought her back to life, and in doing so shattered his very soul. It is the first and only time such a thing happened from love, rather than hate and malice." Death casually sat down, watching George. "It was unexpected. It impressed me. I took pity upon him and bound the remnants of his soul into three items and passed them onto his line. At some point in the future, I hoped one of his line would have the power to reunite them so he could pass on. From that point on, the Peverells were my Chosen, and aided me in fighting those who would cheat me, cheat death. There are many ways to avoid dying. Most involve heinous acts that I simply cannot allow."

"Three items. You mean the Hallows?" George's mind was whirling.

"Indeed. Unfortunately, only a descendant could reunite the Hallows, and so his soul remains sundered," Death stated.

"And you said Harry is the last Peverell," George realized.

"Yes. He could have been strong enough to truly reunite the Hallows. To not just hold them, but to _own_ them. Unfortunately, he was bound in chains of ignorance. One who should have nurtured him instead prepared him to be a sacrifice. Your friend is dead. And the soul of Emeric Peverell will remain forever sundered." Death paused. "Unless."

"Unless?" George asked quickly.

"Unless you make a choice," Death said. "You acted when you did not need to. You could have been happily married and had children of your own. A life of your own. You instead chose to act to save my Chosen. You sacrificed. This gives me... leeway."

"Leeway?" George wondered, frowning. "What are you talking about?"

"I offer you a deal, George Fabian Weasley. You will be sent back in time, your soul merging with your younger self. You may try to help my Chosen. In doing so, you gain the opportunity to save others as well," Death stated.

"Why me? Why don't you send Harry back?" George asked.

"I'm afraid my Chosen is... broken. Even before his time in Azkaban, he was dealing with his issues rather more poorly than most thought. He had been systematically tortured nearly his entire life. Abused throughout his childhood. Each year in school, he had to deal with yet more torment with no real help from his teachers. He fought a war almost entirely alone. Azkaban simply completed what was begun when he was one year old," Death stated. "You are the one who planned, who stepped forward first. The choice is yours."

"If I agree, you send me back? How do I know what to do? I mean, I know some stuff, but I don't know what Harry was doing that final year of the war..." George noted.

"You will be given a gift. One shard of the soul of Emeric Peverell. Your sacrifice makes this possible. You will be able to use it to call forth the spirits of the dead, including my Chosen's. It will not work for you as well as it would for he, but it will be enough."

"You mean I'll have the Resurrection Stone?" George's voice was laden with disbelief. "But if I go back in time, Harry won't be dead. Nor will any of the others."

"He will not be. But you will not be entirely of that time period. There will be a... resonance to your original time. You will be able to call a temporal echo of sorts. I suggest gathering as much information as you are able, as the echoes _will_ start to fade as you change things."

"Is there anything else you can tell me?" George asked.

"I will say what I am allowed. The ring the shard was a part of is still a factor; I cannot touch it even with your sacrifice. He does not need to die to remove that which rests upon his brow; the answer lies in the lore of the land you call Egypt. It is not a true anchor. The blood protections were useless. They are based on love, and he had no love in that home. Do not trust Albus Dumbledore. He is not a malevolent man, but his arrogance, his belief in his own infallibility have created much heartache for many, especially my Chosen. He would say differently, but he lacks empathy. He deliberately placed him in an abusive home. He knew what was happening. And he did nothing, sending him back year after year," Death said. "You know Occlumency. Improve it. It will be needed."

"When would I go back?" George asked, "If I chose to."

"You may return to any time when my Chosen hovered on the brink of death, on its very cusp. Thus, when he was six years old and his Uncle went too far in his beating of him. At the end of his first year at Hogwarts. At the end of his second year. At the start of his third year. At the end of his fourth year..." Death trailed off, "I don't believe you'd wish to return to a point after those dates."

"... I really want to hex someone. Harry nearly died that often? I knew that he was in danger at Hogwarts, but that much?" George shook his head, thinking.

He made his choice. "I'll do it. I want to go back at the end of Harry's first year. That'll let me help Ginny, and have the most impact on him, help him the most. I'd go back to when he was six, but I really couldn't do anything at that point, I was only eight. I didn't even have a wand yet."

"So be it," Death stated.

Suddenly, George felt like he was falling from a great height, motes of light flaring around him like stars. And then he woke up gasping, sitting up in his bed in Gryffindor Tower. On a bed near him was Fred, and he couldn't help it. George started to cry, softly, before wiping his eyes with the his sleeve. It would _not_ happen this time.

As he looked around, he heard something land on the floor. Looking down, he saw a small gray stone laying upon the wooden surface. Etched onto its surface was the symbol of the Deathly Hallows. He bent down to pick it up, sliding it into his pajama pocket. He picked up his watch that rested on the table near his bed, trying to settle himself. Looking at the time, he rose to his feet, moving to pick up the Map as well. Leaving a note for Fred, he quickly changed and headed out of the room. He had some plans to make before breakfast.

It took some time, as George had to pause and refer to the Map to avoid Filch's patrols. Eventually, George found himself walking down the seventh floor hallway, pacing back and forth. Once a door appeared, he pulled it open and stepped inside the Room of Requirement. He looked around, considering. It looked like his bedroom at the shop. Perfect. He sat down, looking at the stone, and turned it three times in his fingers. And spoke.

"Hello, Hermione. I have a few questions to ask you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To my mind, Wizarding Britain was basically split during the war between factions. A small "Phoenix" faction, a small "Death Eater" faction, and everyone else, either the sundry who didn't do much or those who just wanted to stay on top and didn't care about Dumbledore or Voldemort. Look at how few were in the Order of the Phoenix, and Voldemort didn't have very many more. With the defeat of the Death Eaters, there was still a majority of people in power who had supported neither group who were corrupt, and some who supported one or the other on the sly but didn't do anything to lose power. Thus, you end up with a Wizengamot that's unwilling to remove laws that lessen the power of those who remain in power.
> 
> Yes. Amos is a bastard in this. He wants revenge because in his mind, Harry is responsible for Cedric's death. And he was willing to make deals with the devil in the form of corrupt Wizengamot members in order to get Harry. Tit for tat. I would say he's not entirely sane, but I'm not going to explore it as George is in the past, now.


	4. Ouroboros: A Return to the Beginning 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku is killed by a very special Nomu, and finds himself a decade in the past. What happens next? How does he deal with this situation?

He was barely standing, surrounded by utter devastation. Buildings stood shattered, roads were torn to shreds, and entire blocks were destroyed by the climatic battle. Staggering and swaying, he refused to fall. If he was going to die, he would die as he lived: he refused to give up! They had been fighting the creature for what felt like hours, even as one by one, others fell around him. It was laughable. How could they lose to a Nomu, no matter how strong? They'd faced them so many times over the last decade.

But this one was different. Somehow, they had not only created a Nomu but gotten access to David Shield's old Quirk Amplification Device technology that was supposedly destroyed. His mind whirled back to the events on I-Island, even as he charged forward to meet the creature's fist and was blown back, even as he felt his arm finally shatter. His body collapsed a wall as he ended up on his back.

He hadn't felt that in a long time. He didn't break bones anymore.

He had to keep it distracted so people could evacuate. Lifting his other arm, he summoned a tendril of Blackwhip to pull himself to his feet. He turned, about to attack again, when he saw the Nomu's fist inches from his face. Too close, it was too...

His last thought was of his wife, that he'd never see her again.

Darkness.

OARTTBOARTTBOARTTBOARTTBOARTTB

And Izuku Midoriya woke up on a train.

His heart beating furiously, he started to panic, before his training kicked in, and he looked around slowly. He was on a train. Above him, he saw a small sign announcing: **Now Arriving at Yavin Station**. Yavin Station? That was the station near UA University. What was going on, how could he be on a train? He'd been about to die from the hyper-charged Nomu's attack.

Slowly, Izuku pulled out his phone, and swiped a finger to unlock it. He just _stared_ at the date. He knew that date. He remembered that day even now.

The day of the Entrance Examination for UA. _His_ entrance examination.

Izuku got up almost mechanically and approached the doors, getting off the train. Turning, he walked towards UA, and approached the gates. In the distance, he could see the buildings, just as he remembered. Everything was as he remembered. He could even see Kirishima and Mina in the distance, entering the testing center.

He stopped, trying to control his panic. He couldn't panic; heroes didn't panic. He had to _think_. What was going on? He couldn't, he just couldn't be here. It was impossible. Not even _Eri's_ quirk could do something like this! Quirks were weird, but sending him back in time? Well, his mind at least. This was _definitely_ his seventeen year old body.

"Out of the way, Deku!" came from behind him. He saw Bakugou stalk past, and then a few moments later, Uraraka passed by as well. Some part of him felt sad. There wouldn't be a funny meeting where she prevented him from tripping, not this time. He'd have to meet his friend another way.

That is, if he wasn't going insane.

Taking a slow breath, Izuku made a decision. Either he was insane, or he was really back in the past. Either way, there was nothing he could _do_ about it. So he'd act as if this was real. And if it was, perhaps he could change things. No, he _would_ change things.

Bakugou wouldn't get kidnapped. Ragdoll wouldn't lose her quirk. He would save Eri more pain, and Mirio wouldn't lose _his_ quirk. Nighteye and Midnight wouldn't die.

After a moment, Izuku started walking towards the testing center. He remembered his words, so long ago. And reaffirmed them.

He would be a hero that saves everyone.

OARTTBOARTTBOARTTBOARTTBOARTTB

Izuku shook his head as he came out of the classroom. The written examination was easy. Then again, he _had_ done this before and by now he knew Hero Law like the back of his hand. That had always been the most difficult part of the test. His footsteps brought him to the auditorium and he saw Present Mic standing in front, as he walked towards his seat.

Oh yeah, he was sitting by Bakugou.

Sighing, Izuku sat down, looking briefly at Bakugou before leaning back to wait. The other boy glared at him briefly before ignoring him. Much like before, Present Mic summarized the practical and Iida stood up to demand questions. He always did handle stress that way. The only difference was Izuku managed to control his muttering, so he didn't get singled out this time.

Was it wrong that some part of him actually felt _sad_ about that?

He'd long ago learned when to control his muttering. Having to worry about revealing time travel? Or insanity? A _very_ good time to control it.

After the explanation, Izuku glanced at the slip in front of him and rose to his feet. He nodded at Bakugou, "Good luck, Bakugou," he said and turned to walk away.

He didn't notice Bakugou's shocked expression behind him.

OARTTBOARTTBOARTTBOARTTBOARTTB

Arriving at his battle center, Izuku looked around slowly. He saw Uraraka in the distance, and part of him wanted to go up to her. He decided it'd look strange when they hadn't spoken before now, and so he just stood there waiting.

As he did, he pulled on One For All, slowly building Full Cowling. He didn't know how much he could manage at the moment, and didn't want to injure himself pulling too much. He could feel the energy infusing his body as it slowly rose, green lightning flaring over his limbs. He could feel his bones vibrating as it hit around nine percent, so he dialed it back to eight.

That was more than he'd expected, but then he'd never pushed himself with it at first. All Might had said he could handle five percent, so that's what he'd done. The extra three percent would be useful.

He heard Present Mic call for start and he dashed out, tendrils of lightning flashing in his wake. Might as well make an impact.

He came upon a group of robots and leaped in the center of the group, causing a shock wave that took them all down in an instant. He dashed up towards one of the buildings, leaping from wall to wall so he could look over the testing ground, and leaped down, landing in another group of robots and lashing out with his leg, shattering two before turning to put his fist through the head of another.

Leaping from building to building, Izuku saw others fighting the robots. As he leapt off a building, he grabbed a three pointer when it was about to attack Aoyama, holding it until the blonde blasted it away. "I thank you, monsieur," he said as he flashed a smile, and Izuku couldn't help but smile to himself.

Back and forth he went. He really didn't care about points; Izuku knew he'd get more than enough to pass. Instead, he focused on helping his fellow students in between destroying robots, dashing forward to block attacks or pull people out of the way of collapsing rubble.

In a way, he was enjoying himself.

OARTTBOARTTBOARTTBOARTTBOARTTB

In the control room, the teachers were watching the battle centers. Nezu commented, "Oh ho, look at applicant seventy nine. Izuku Midoriya. Not only did he not hesitate when the test started, but he's taking out robots quite well and he's helping his fellow competitors too."

To the side, All Might was shocked. The boy was doing _very_ well! He was a little confused about the green energy around the boy, but he sometimes did something similar when pushing himself. He _was_ curious at some of the boy's martial arts, he didn't realize Izuku knew such things.

"Look at the applicant in Battle Center C. He's destroying robots even faster than Midoriya with those explosions of his. He isn't helping anyone else, though," commented Snipe.

As the test continued, Nezu was almost vibrating as he looked between the screens. "I think it's time to step things up a notch," he said. "Let's find out who will take this opportunity."

And pressed a button.

OARTTBOARTTBOARTTBOARTTBOARTTB

Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound and the ground started to shake. Izuku leapt up onto a nearby building, running towards the rumbling, as he watched people pass by below. His gaze flickered over the runners, making sure no one fell. He was hoping that this time, Uraraka didn't get hit by falling rubble.

Damn it.

There she was, just like last time. He jumped from rooftop to rooftop, even as the Zero-Pointer approached. He pulled on One For All, his bones vibrating harder as he pushed up to ten percent. He'd have to break at least one limb. He didn't think he could do enough damage quickly enough, otherwise. He jumped off the building, rocketing over towards it and turned in midair, using a move he'd based on Miruko's fighting. "Crescent SMASH!" As he moved, he pulled yet more of One For All in his leg and brought it down, collapsing the head of the robot and causing it to collapse not far from Uraraka. At least he only used about half, so it was probably a clean break and not shattered.

In a room not far away, teachers cheered.

Of course, his leg _did_ break. He pushed off the robot, bouncing from building to building to land on the ground, not putting any weight on his leg. It still hurt like a son of a bitch. He leaned against the wall, panting, "Now I'm thinking like Bakugou." He called out to Uraraka, "Are you all right?"

"I think so. My leg is trapped, and I can't reach the rubble," she said.

Izuku began to hop towards her, wincing as pain shot through him from his leg. Nearing her, he leaned down and pulled the rocks off of her. "There. What a pair we make, I'm pretty sure I broke my leg."

She giggled. "I guess so. I'm Uraraka. Ochako Uraraka."

"Izuku Midoriya. Nice to meet you, Uraraka," he said with a smile.

They heard footsteps behind them, and both turned. Izuku started to mutter, not bothering to control himself, before asking, "You're Recovery Girl! Can I have your autograph? It's such an honor to meet you, ma'am!"

"Yes, I am, and maybe later, young man," the woman stated. "What's wrong with you two?"

"She hurt her leg, I'm not sure if it's sprained or broken," Izuku explained. "I'm sure that I broke mine."

"Oh dear, let me look at you," Recovery Girl said as she approached, leaning in to kiss Ochako and then Izuku. He felt a sharp pain in his leg as it started to heal. "Did you fall, how'd you both get hurt?"

"Some rubble fell on me," Uraraka said with a shudder, "It was too far down to easily reach, so I couldn't get it off."

"I, er, well, I destroyed the Zero-Pointer. It was getting too close to Uraraka. I used too much power, and couldn't handle it," Izuku admitted.

"Your own quirk did this to you?" Recovery Girl asked with a frown. She produced some gummies, offering them to both Izuku and Uraraka. "Eat this, it'll help you recover your energy."

As he ate the gummies, Izuku tentatively leaned on his leg. There was an ache, but no real pain, and even the ache was fading. "Thank you, ma'am," he told her, before glancing at Uraraka, "How do you think you did?" he wondered.

"Pretty well," Uraraka said. "I'm hopeful."

"Me too," Izuku said to her with a smile, "We should clear out though. Hey, how about we exchange numbers so we can chat later?"

"Sure!" the girl agreed, even as they slowly made their way out of the battle center.

OARTTBOARTTBOARTTBOARTTBOARTTB

A week later, Izuku was wandering along Dagobah Beach, his hands in his pocket. Waiting. Soon, Yagi appeared, and Izuku greeted him, "Hello, Yagi, sir."

"Hello, my boy! You wanted to speak to me? I must repeat that you did excellent on the examination! First place!" Yagi said boisterously.

"I need to tell you something. But I'd like it if your detective friend was here, too, could you call Detective Tsukauchi and ask him to come here?" Izuku asked.

Yagi frowned, "I can do that. How do you know about Tsukauchi, if I might ask?" the hero wondered.

"That's part of what I need to talk about," Izuku stated with a sigh. He watched as Yagi called the Detective, hands in his pockets.

"Can you tell me anything about what's going on?" the hero asked with a frown.

"I think it better to wait. What I want to talk about is pretty unbelievable, it'd be better to have the Detective's quirk to verify my words," Izuku explained.

"This is not filling me with confidence, young Midoriya," Yagi said to him. They waited in silence, and perhaps fifteen minutes later they saw the detective approaching, "Ah, Tsukauchi. Thank you for coming!"

"Not a problem. What exactly am I needed for?" Tsukauchi asked.

"It was actually my idea. What I'm about to say is pretty unbelievable, but between supporting information and your quirk, I'm hoping that Yagi can believe me," Izuku stated.

Brow lofting, Tsukauchi nodded, "All right..."

"In a nutshell, I've been a hero for over a decade. I graduated from UA after a lot of difficulties due to villains, and slowly rose through the ranks to reach the top," Izuku said calmly, watching their reactions. "Eventually, something happened, and the remnants of the League of Villains, a group of villains who originally appeared not long from now, created a creature we found unbeatable. Eventually, it defeated me. I saw darkness. And... I woke up on the train, a week ago, going to UA for to once again take the Entrance Examination." He shrugged, "So either I'm utterly insane, or my mind came back in time from the future. To be honest, it's still freaking me out."

Yagi opened his mouth. Closed it. He looked at Tsukauchi, who was blinking, "My quirk said he's telling the truth, but remember, it only knows if the person believes they're telling the truth."

"Yeah, I know, it's just one supporting factor," Izuku said. "Some other details. Your teacher was Nana Shimura. When she died due to All For One, you were taught by Gran Torino. You were originally quirkless - which kind of annoyed me when I originally found out, by the way. All For One's alive and his current protégé is Tomura Shigaraki." He considered, "I have more information of course, but I think that's enough to show I know more than I should?"

Yagi's mouth seemed stuck in a permanent open position, going white as he hears Izuku say All for One is alive. And has taken a protégé. After a moment, he recovered enough to ask, "How did this happen then?"

"I have absolutely no idea. I know of a quirk that can rewind time on a person to heal or even de-age them, but I've never heard of one capable of sending someone's mind into the past," Izuku said with a sigh. He frowned, "Which reminds me, I need to save Eri. Anyway. All I can think of is there was someone on scene who saw me fall and wanted to help out?" He shrugged. "I just know the Nomu was about to basically smash my face in, everything went black, and here I am. I basically decided that it didn't matter. If I'm insane, I'm insane. If I'm not, I'm going to do my best to save everyone I can. I can't stand by and do _nothing_ when I know bad things are going to happen."

"Nomu?" asked the Detective.

"An artificial creature created by taking a host and having All For One graft multiple quirks into them," Izuku explained with a sigh. "It's basically a mindless, brain dead drone right now, though they do figure out how to keep them sapient later. The first one that was fought had incredible strength, shock absorption, and super regeneration and was designed to kill All Might, though luckily it failed."

"This is a lot to take in," Tsukauchi stated with a frown, "I'd say you were insane if you didn't obviously know a great deal that you shouldn't. Is there anything you can tell me that can be verified immediately?"

"Himiko Toga is on the streets in Yokohama, not far from Kamino. Until she met the League, she usually hung out near middle schools, where kids her own age were. I'll give you her description before we leave. She has a quirk called Transform, that lets her take the form of people whose blood she drinks. She needs blood to survive, but her parents are bastards who think she has a 'villainous quirk' and so stop her from getting blood from blood banks, insisting she can go without. If she doesn't get stopped soon, she will snap and kill someone for their blood, but I think she can still be saved," Izuku said before continuing. "Look at Endeavor and his wife's family's financial records. You'll find that he paid her parents a great deal of money for a quirk marriage. Oh, and the Hero Killer's quirk is Bloodcurdle. If he ingests your blood, you're paralyzed for a time. How long depends on blood type. That's why he has so many bladed weapons. Best way to beat him is to keep him away from you so he can't cut you, though he does have throwing knives."

Blinking slowly, Tsukauchi said, "Well, we can certainly check Endeavor's financial records, and look for Toga once you give me her appearance," the man said. "Are you sure about the Hero Killer?"

"Yes. Last time I fought him with two other students. Iida had been looking for him after he paralyzed his brother; hopefully, that won't happen this time," Izuku explained. "By the way, for Bloodcurdle, O is the shortest time, and I believe AB is the longest."

"Young Midoriya..." Yagi began. "Are you all right? If what you're saying is true, this must be traumatic for you. What with nearly dying and then ending up in the past?"

"You have no idea. I see my friends, but they don't know me yet. I'm going to meet my _wife_ soon, and she won't know me either. Will we get together again? Or did I lose that too? I don't know," Izuku said, closing his eyes. "Would it be fair of me to try to get to know her? Would I be manipulating her?"

"That's hard to say. I do think you should talk to her about it, if you married her, you obviously trust her," Yagi stated.

"Wouldn't that make it weird?" For the first time, Izuku showed uncertainty, revealing just how much this has affected him.

"Possibly, but isn't it better to talk to her and know, than feel guilty?" Yagi asked this with an uplifted brow.

"You're right," Izuku said with a sigh. "I'll talk to her, though probably not for a while. I mean, 'Hey, I'm Izuku. You were my wife, once upon a time...' would be a bad way to introduce myself." His voice is laden with bitter humor.

"That would be for the best, I think," Yagi said dryly.

"Can you give me a description of Himiko Toga?" asked Tsukauchi, "So I can have people start looking for her?"

"I can do you one better, I recall where she went to school, as she was in the League for a long time," Izuku said. "Come on," he added, pulling out his phone and tapping on it, "I should be able to find pictures on the web site and we can visit the school." he continued, walking with Tsukauchi and Yagi as they headed off the beach.

It was only in these times, when he was helping people, that Izuku stopped thinking about what he lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as a note: UA is a University, as I want to deal with adults and prefer it over a High School like UA existing. I'm also not going to check very minor things like what Izuku's applicant number was, or what battle center he was in. It'll be consistent within the story though. There will be other minor changes too.
> 
> As is obvious, this is definitely an AU. Things went bad, and with Izuku back in time, a looooot of things will change. Izuku will be pretty OP; it's hard not to be when he will know how to control One For All from the start, even if he'll have to build back up his body's tolerance for it. And OP Izuku can be fun. It'll be fun thinking of new powers for One For All, though I'll keep the canon ones of Blackwhip, Danger Sense, and Float.
> 
> I gave Ochako enough points to get in even without Rescue Points from Izuku, I figure she got some before. She probably wasn't quite as high a score, but I didn't want him to be as reckless as he was when he was a kid, so she didn't have to save him.
> 
> As for names, everyone but Izuku is going to be referred to by their family name until they ask him to use their given name.
> 
> And no, status quo is not god, here. :)


	5. Issei Hyoudou, Platinum Edition 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A nightmare when he's young gives Issei an unexpected power. Watch as this power makes big changes to the world of DxD.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a love-hate with the DxD fandom. I've started a few fics, but always dropped them when someone decided to be even more of an arse than most. Not sure if I'll ever finish this, but I miss another fic that hasn't been updated in a while that was a Gamer Issei, so wrote this for fun the other day. There's lots of exposition, of course, being a prologue of a gamer fanfic. Have to describe the game.

Issei Hyoudou slept.

And dreamed.

The dreams, however, were really nightmares. Ever since Rin had left, the boy had been alone. He missed his best friend, and had dreams about what could happen to her. She was far away and Issei worried that she could be hurt, or that she'd forget about him. It didn't help that the other children in the neighborhood were much older than him, so she'd really been his only real friend.

Children's dreams can be powerful. Perhaps it was fate that led to one of his dreams being noticed by another. Exceptionally powerful dreams occasionally touch upon a real place, a world of dreams floating within the void. In this case, it was a particularly powerful nightmare in which Issei found himself struggling to protect his best friend from shadowy monsters intent on harming her. Every time he stood up, he was knocked down, was hurt again. And yet, he always, _always_ stood back up. Over and over again, in more and more pain, the young boy refused to give up.

He _had_ to help his friend!

The watcher was enthralled. Here was a human child who refused to stay down. A child caught up in his fears and yet he still refused to give up simply because he wanted to protect someone. One thing he truly favored was mettle and strength of will. It was worthy of respect, a feeling that rarely came to the being.

_If you desire power to protect those closest to you, I shall give it to you. I feel an echo within you already, boy. I know not how my power will affect you; it will grow and be shaped by your spirit and mind. It will undoubtedly be a power like no other, shaped by your dreams. But I give it to you freely._

Even as these words penetrated his dream and the dream faded into true slumber, Issei felt a rush of heat and warmth flood into him. And then, even as the boy's spirit faded from the dream world, the Apocalypse Dragon - the Dragon of Dreams - went on his way.

The result of this strange dream would not manifest for years.

IHPEIHPEIHPEIHPEIHPE

Issei woke up to his alarm ringing, feeling a strange rush of energy surge as if he'd drank a bottle of coffee. Glancing at the clock, the fifteen-year-old blanched and threw himself to his feet, struggling to rush into the shower. He couldn't be late! He'd spent too much time last night playing the latest in his favorite series of video games, and now he had only a half hour to get ready. He'd promised his mother that he'd help clean out the garage and storage shed, and she'd be disappointed in him if he was late.

It was only when he was starting to relax in the hot water, that he saw a strange, bronze box hovering in the corner of his vision.

**[The Dragon's Game v1.0 is now Activated.]**   
**[Jobs have been initialized and attributes modified.]**   
**[Quest Received: Tutorial. Rewards: +1 Job Level, ¥25,000]**   
**[Think 'Help' to reference the help system.]**   
**[Your Health, Stamina, and Magic have been restored. You are are now Rested.]**

"What the hell?" Issei muttered, as he stepped out of the shower. "That looked like a prompt in one of my games." He then thought, _Help._

**[Welcome, Hyoudou Issei, to the Dragon's Game. You have been gifted with power that has taken the form of a video game. That's what you get for being obsessed with such things at a young age! You will be able to get stronger to protect those you care about! To view your stats, think 'Stats'. Please view the following help topics: _Attributes_ , _Jobs_ , _Qualities_ ]**

"I am going crazy. I have to be," muttered Issei. But getting stronger did sound nice, it reminded him of his thoughts when Rin moved away. Even now, he missed her. Shaking his head, he thought, _Help Attributes. Help Jobs. Help Qualities._

**[Attributes represent your basic ability and talents. You know the drill, gamer boy! They are Strength, Vitality, Agility, Dexterity, Intelligence, Perception, and Will. Normal humans have attributes ranging from five to twenty, with the average hovering somewhere in the ten to twelve range. Twenty is the maximum for a normal human being. Other species can have attributes far higher, so be cautious!]**

**[There are also secondary attributes that are calculated from your primary attributes. These are Health, Stamina, and Magic. If your Health ever reaches zero, that's it: you'll die unless you get immediate medical attention! If your Stamina or Magic reach zero, you'll feel extremely tired and be unable to use skills that require those attributes.]**

**[Jobs represent broad, related fields of study, similar to the jobs in one of your video games. Basic jobs include Archer, Diplomat, Mage, Rogue, Scholar, and Warrior. These fill a majority of the basic niches one might need in life as a whole, giving skill and special moves appropriate to the job or its concept in games. There are also Prestige Jobs that build upon and sometimes replace the basic jobs that give specialized and increased bonuses! There are sometimes overlap between jobs; in this case, the benefits of each job stack with each other.]**

**[Qualities represent innate talents that are not necessarily numerically defined. They may be magical, mental, physical, or social aspects that are important, and may even be negative at times. Examples include having a sacred gear, being able to speak any language, being another species such as an angel or devil, or being of the noble class.]**

**[Additional Help Topics Available on individual attributes and jobs.]**

Even as he puzzled over this flood of information, Issei finished getting dressed, running his hand through his messy hair to semi-straighten it. He idly thought, _Help Archer. Help Warrior._ "I wonder what the difference is..."

**[Archers are trained combatants who specialize in ranged combat. In spite of the name, using a firearm or thrown weapons also are affected by the Archer job. The Archer job gives bonus and skill with various ranged weapons as well as augments the ability to dodge attacks. Other skills of the Archer job include general athleticism, stealth, tracking, and even the crafting of bows and javelins. Every level of the Archer job increases Agility and Perception by 1.]**

**[Warriors are trained combatants who specialize in melee combat. All forms of melee combat are under the aegis of the warrior, including unarmed fighting. The Warrior job gives a large bonus to parrying and blocking attacks and a smaller bonus to dodging attacks. Other skills of the Warrior job include general athleticism, riding of animals and driving vehicles, tactics, and the crafting of armor and weapons. Every level of the Warrior job increases Strength and Vitality by 1.]**

"Huh, so archers are snipers and warriors are more front line and tacticians. Odd that you don't learn tactics as an archer," Issei mused, "But that does fit many games, so." A pause. "I should view my stats." He continued, thinking, _Stats._

**[Issei Hyoudou  
Human  
Age 16**

**Health: 280  
Stamina: 310  
Magic: 380**

**Strength: 16  
Vitality: 18  
Agility: 13  
Dexterity: 10  
Intelligence: 12  
Perception: 13  
Will: 19**

**Jobs:  
Archer 1  
Scholar 1  
Warrior 1**

**Qualities:  
Boosted Gear  
Draconic Charisma  
Draconic Will  
Gamer's Body  
Gamer's Mind]**

_Huh, my stats seem kind of high. It did say it modified my attributes. From my jobs? I have a lot of strange qualities, though. Help Scholar. Help Boosted Gear. Help Draconic Charisma. Help Draconic Will. Help Gamer's Body. Help Gamer's Mind._ He started viewing the various help topics.

**[The Scholar is an academic. It includes knowledge of everything from schoolwork to more esoteric areas of knowledge. Architects, historians, scientists, and even magicians could have levels in Scholar. The Scholar is also able to pass on knowledge easier than others. Every level of the Scholar job increases Intelligence and Perception by 1.]**

**[Sacred gears are spiritual abilities gifted to humans from God. The Boosted Gear is a Longinus, one of the most powerful sacred gears. Imprisoned within is the soul of Ddraig, the Red Dragon Emperor. The Boosted Gear augments the wielder's body and soul, and allows the user to double their traits every ten seconds, stacking with itself. The Boosted Gear increases your Strength and Vitality by 2 for every job level you have.]**

**[Dragons are charismatic creatures. Draconic charisma means that people are more likely to listen to you... or to be frightened by you if you attempt to intimidate them.]**

**[Dragons are stubborn creatures. Even before awakening your power, you possessed an unyielding will. Your Will increases by 2 for every job level you have.]**

**[Your life is now a video game and this includes how your body works. Aren't you lucky? As such, any physical damage is taken off your health. Normal damage will not normally fracture your bones or cause you to bleed out, though attacks designed to do so still work as normal. In addition, after sleeping eight hours, all damage is healed and your secondary attributes are restored to full.]**

**[What video game character feels fear? You are immune to the negative effects of emotions, and are immune to direct mental attacks of all sorts. While you can still be cautious, confused or even afraid, these emotions will never control you.]**

**[Quest completed: Tutorial. Rewards: +1 Job Level, ¥25,000]**   
**[Choose a job level. Think 'Choose ' to increase a job. You may only raise a job you already have.]**

Issei considered. He really wanted to raise something cool like Archer or Warrior, but considering he was planning on applying for Kuoh in a few months, he needed all the help he could get. _Choose Scholar_ , he thought, and felt a rush of power.

**[Scholar Job raised to 2.]**

"Issei!" His mom called. "You need to come down, you promised to help clean! Are you up, or did you spend the night playing your games again?"

Issei shook himself out of his thoughts. Part of him wondered if he was going crazy, but he would worry about this later. He opened his door, calling down, "You act like it's an either or thing, mom. I was up pretty late, but I'm ready, I promised, didn't I?"

As he came into the living room, he saw his mom waiting for him, hand on her hip, "You did, yes. I'm glad you remembered. Your breakfast is on the table, hurry up and eat, and then we can begin. I've been looking forward to clearing out the garage and shed for a while, it's a _mess_."

"Are you going to use the shed for anything?" Issei asked her curiously.

"Not really. I just hate knowing that there's all this junk in there, why?" his mother asked him.

"Well, can I use it once we clean it out? It's a pretty large shed, I could use for a few things, I wanted to get in shape, so maybe some exercise equipment..." Issei trailed off.

It was almost insulting how quickly his mother agreed, happy that he was going to start exercising. It wasn't like he'd really been out of shape before!

Either way, if his life really was going to be like a video game, he was going to use it to the fullest.

IHPEIHPEIHPEIHPEIHPE

Issei was exhausted. It had taken hours to finish cleaning out the garage and shed. On the other hand, as he focused on the corner of his vision, he did see a series of messages that made things a little better.

**[Strength Attribute raised to 17.]**   
**[Vitality Attribute raised to 19.]**   
**[Vitality Attribute raised to 20.]**   
**[Vitality Attribute raised to 21.]**

Considering the maximum human attribute was twenty, they were raising rather fast. Then again, it also said that was for normal humans, and he wasn't, he guessed. Perhaps that was considered low for him, like in an MMO?

Issei looked around the shed. He'd cleaned out the structure and swept the cement floor. It was a large shed, four by four meters in dimensions. He would be able to work with this. As he thought, he ran his fingers through his hair, looking around. A table for studying, some exercise equipment, and it'd be nice. Though cold in the winter.

There was a Mage job, perhaps he'd be able to create a warming spell or something, down the line?

Stretching, he headed into the house, and waved to his mom, "Hi, mom. I'm finished sweeping out the garage and shed. I need a shower." As he spoke, he headed upstairs to do just that.

Emerging from the bathroom, Issei headed into his room. He had to study, if he was going to get into Kuoh. Some of the other boys talked about how it was a perfect school to meet girls, as it used to be an all-girls school till recently. While Issei _really_ liked the idea of meeting girls, the main reason he wanted to get into the school was a lot more simple: the school had an _awesome_ computer gaming club. And now with this game thing, their kendo club would be fun too. Maybe he'd get what was it, a prestige job, like an Arcane Knight or something!

Yeah, even he had to admit that he was a complete dork sometimes.

Carefully picking books from his bookshelf, Issei organized his studies. He'd do Japanese, History, Maths, then Sciences. He'd round out the evening with a bit of English.

As he studied, he ignored the dialog box that occasionally popped up. He could look at those after, he didn't want to get distracted. He found it strange how much easier studying seemed to be, though.

After a few hours, Issei relaxed, pushing his books aside and closing them. He sighed, tired not only physically but mentally. He glanced at the alerts, and blinked as he noticed a new quest.

**[Intelligence Attribute raised to 14.]**   
**[Intelligence Attribute raised to 15.]**   
**[Scholar Job raised to 3.]**   
**[Quest Received: Pass the Kuoh Academy Exams. Rewards: Awakened Boosted Gear, Mage Job, ¥25,000]**

_That lets me get the Mage Job, that would be so _cool_! Definitely have to study. I have a few months until the entry test, it's on January 2nd..._ Issei's thoughts whirled. He was definitely going to study and work hard.

IHPEIHPEIHPEIHPEIHPE

As the months passed, Issei continued to study. He wanted to not only do well on the test but _ace_ it. This Dragon's Game thing seemed to have increased his normal competitiveness. Or perhaps it was just a dragon thing in general.

He also kept exercising, using the money he'd gotten from his quest as well his allowance to purchase some used exercise equipment. He focused more on agility training, as he knew his strength and stamina would raise regardless thanks to his sacred gear, whatever that was. It still hadn't 'awakened'. When he was practicing gymnastics and trying to sneak around a bit, he did pick up the Rogue Job, though. After an attempt to lie to his mom, he gained the Diplomat Job as well. So that was fun.

His attributes did start to rise more slowly as time passed. Probably because he was simply human, even if enhanced. They didn't stop increasing, however.

Soon, it was time for the Kuoh Entrance Examinations. Issei looked around curiously as he went through the gates. He spotted one or two people from his old school, though none he knew very well. Heading into the building, he stopped at one of the desks in front of the large testing room, speaking quietly to the girl sitting at the desk, a slender, dark-haired girl wearing glasses. "Issei Hyoudou." She gave him a small card after he signed a form, and went to take the exam.

It was easy.

As he left the room, he was given a few message by the system and a rush of power filled his body. And floating text bloomed into existence all around him.

**[Quest completed: Pass the Kuoh Academy Exams. Rewards: Awakened Sacred Gear, 1 Level of Mage Job, ¥25,000]**   
**[Fifteen total Job levels gained. Status System Unlocked. Dungeons Unlocked.]**   
**[New Help is available: Dungeons, Mage Job, Status System.]**

Including one, very interesting one as he passed the table he signed in at.

**[Sona Sitri]**   
**[Pureblood Devil]**   
**[Heiress to House Sitri]**

What the heck?

IHPEIHPEIHPEIHPEIHPE

Later that afternoon, two people sat in the Kuoh student council office, talking. "So, are there any promising applicants, Sona?" asked a red-headed girl.

"There were a few that stood out. One girl named Aika Kiryuu had a very good score, and I sensed a bit of spiritual potential when she signed herself in. She's probably the descendant of a shrine priestess." The girl, presumably Sona, looked through the papers, thinking, "I detected something from Saji Genshirou when he checked in as well. I think it might be a sacred gear." Listing off the names, she continued, "Also a boy named Issei Hyoudou. He received a perfect score on the entry examination and there was something off about him. I'm not entirely sure what, though. I _think_ I felt a surge of power when he was leaving the testing center. He might be someone to look out for as well, Rias."

"Hmmm. I might look into the girl as I need someone with magical talent other than Akeno. Though a sacred gear is tempting too, I'll have to think on that. If the other one is that smart, he might be better suited for you, Sona," Rias stated, tapping her lips.

"Depending on how he behaves, you might be right. He seemed nice enough when I spoke. I did see him staring at a few girls, but no more than any other teenage boy. Unlike another pair I dealt with, who were simply creepy. I felt dirty after speaking to them. I'm tempted to block their entry. Neither had any sign of potential."

Rias shrugged, "If they lack potential, I leave that to you. Can you give me Kiryuu and Genshirou's records to look over?"

Sona offered the other girl two folders, "These are copies, so feel free to keep them," she noted. "This was a good year though, we have some good applicants."

"I knew it'd be a good idea to open the school up to boys. One possible sacred gear user so far is good, and whatever talents Hyoudou has," Rias told Sona.

"The most difficult part was convincing Serafall-neesan," Sona said with a shudder.

Rias shuddered in sympathy. Her brother was just as bad.

IHPEIHPEIHPEIHPEIHPE

Meanwhile, Issei was just arriving at home. Heading up to his room, he settled down and thought, _Help Dungeons. Help Mage Job. Help Status System._

**[Dungeons are locations in the world where the dream world overlaps with reality, creating places you can fight powerful creatures. Isn't that fun? Fighting in a dungeon yields more results than training outside a dungeon, and treasure within a dungeon can be quite lucrative in many ways. A warning: dungeons are rare and don't last long, so are a precious commodity. Don't be a dork and waste them!]**

**[Those with the Mage Job manipulate raw magic. Obvious, right? Casting magical spells requires both precision and magical power. The more skilled you are, the less magic your spells require, at least up to a point. A beginner mage can manipulate magic in simple ways, able to throw pure magic at a foe, though this is wasteful. A mage may also transform magic into whatever element he has an affinity for. More skilled mages can do this for any element, though a mage's affinities will always be easier for the mage. Practice makes perfect, and imagination is key for this form of magic. A mage may do anything within his or her skill level with some practice, but learned spells are easier and will cost less mana to use.]**

**[What is a life-based MMO game without status bars? When you look at people and some objects, you will see a name and status bar over them. This is very useful, as it's nearly impossible to fool a status bar, allowing you to see through most forms of invisibility and disguise or detect most hidden things.]**

Issei considered. He lifted his hand and concentrated, imagining. Just like in the stories. This should be simple! After a few moments, a ball of light formed in his hand and he released it and it hovered there, floating. "I did it!"

**[You have learned the spell: Orb of Light]**

"This is going to be _so cool_ ," Issei decided. Now to figure out how to do various things you could do in games, and hope they worked.

IHPEIHPEIHPEIHPEIHPE

In the next week, Issei practiced and experimented, mostly with magic but some sword fighting at a local dojo. It went well for the most part. Sure, there was the time when he tried to create a flaming sword and burned his hand to the bone (he is sure that he'll be able to do that down the line!) or the time when he was in the woods and nearly caused a tree to fall on him.

But all in all, it's been a good week. He's learned some spells, gotten a few levels in his Mage and Warrior jobs, and had a few ideas on spells he might be able to do when he became more skilled. His favorite spells included the one that let him walk on walls, which he rather geekily called Spider Climb, and the one that allowed him to teleport short distances, which he called Blink.

Now, if only he could figure out how to create that flaming sword. He supposed that the fact he had to not _burn_ himself made it harder. He had also been looking for a dungeon, but hadn't found any yet. The help did say they were rare, perhaps they were _very_ rare, or had some sort of condition to be found.

Issei finally got the official results in the mail: he was accepted into class 1-A and had gotten a perfect score on the entry examination.

Even as he put the paper down on his desk, he was mentally cheering.

**[Issei Hyoudou  
Human  
Age 16**

**Health: 1080  
Stamina: 1100  
Magic: 980**

**Strength: 47  
Vitality: 61  
Agility: 24  
Dexterity: 24  
Intelligence: 40  
Perception: 28  
Will: 49**

**Jobs:  
Archer 1  
Diplomat 1  
Mage 5  
Rogue 2  
Scholar 8  
Warrior 5**

**Spells:  
Blink, Fireball, Firebolt, Ice Trap, Orb of Light, Spider Climb, Unlock**

**Qualities:  
Boosted Gear, Draconic Charisma, Draconic Will, Gamer's Body, Gamer's Mind]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Issei knows Irina is a girl. I found the whole joke 'You were really a GIRL!' thing to be a little contrived.
> 
> As for stats, his stat increase slowed down because he's human. Humans are not as powerful in DxD as monsters. Even ones like Cao Cao get by mostly on **SKILL** (and the mother of all Sacred Gears in Cao Cao's case). They will speed up more when he becomes a Devil. Yes, I'm making him a Devil. I'm aware some people like "Independent Issei" who through some contrivance avoids becoming a devil, but I'm not taking the story in that direction.
> 
> Something to remember is even canon Issei was smart, he just didn't apply himself at first. He got into Kuoh after all, which is a hard school. He was also a good leader in the field. This one is simply applying himself more and the Gamer lets him increase his smarts a lot faster.
> 
> Also, without Issei being their friend for the devils to be interested in, I'm afraid Matsuda and Motohama will not be attending Kuoh.


	6. A Flower From Tomorrow 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Harry dies to Voldemort's Killing Curse, Fleur Delacour decides to change the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoot me. I'm a little writer's blocky, so am playing with some ideas. At least people get to see those ideas. Plus Fleur is awesome. :P

Fleur Isabelle Delacour dreamed, floating in a void of darkness filled with stars. In front of her was... herself? It looked like how she thought she might look in a few years. Either that, or a younger version of her mother.

"Hello," the other, older Fleur said.

"What's going on?" the dreaming Fleur wondered.

"I am you, from the future. Some bad things happened, and I wanted to change events for the better. Save someone dear to me, and fix the mistakes of an arrogant, manipulative man. I found a way to send my memories back in time. I won't be replacing you, so don't worry. It's more like you'll get a library of knowledge in your mind that you can access. That knowledge is everything I know." Her lips quirked, "So you'll be rather good at magic after tonight."

The younger Fleur frowned, "Prove you're me. Tell me something that no one but me would know."

"When you were thirteen, you were asked on a date by many boys. You never accepted any date that year, and so many people thought that you were stuck up. The truth is, you heard one of the boys, Renard Dubois, talking about wanting to sleep with you and you don't want to be seen as a conquest," the future Fleur answered. "That's why even now, you rarely date."

Fleur frowned, looking at her older self, "That's true, and while someone might know of what happened that year, it's unlikely they'd know about me hearing Dubois talking." She shook her head, "All right. You're future me. What do you want?"

"Next year, your time, I went to Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament and met someone I love a great deal," the elder stated. "He has been used and treated badly. It ended with his death. I want you to help him, to ask papa to help him. I'd _like_ for you to get close to him as we were good together, but that's your choice. You can judge for yourself."

"What about you?" Fleur asked her other self with a frown.

"If things go well, there won't be a me anymore, anyway," the elder Fleur said. "The past will have changed the future. So I made my choice. It's all right, I lost my love. The world has forgotten all that he's sacrificed and many have insulted his memory, and I won't allow that to happen. If you help him, that's good enough for me."

"That's sad," lamented the dreaming girl. "You - we really love him?"

"I do," the elder girl said quietly, "You could, but I don't want to make you think you must fall for him. That's your choice, that's why I chose this ritual instead of another that I could have used. It didn't feel right to take your place, even if you are me. But... he saw the real me, and I saw the real him. He was younger than me, but older than his years in some ways due to how he was raised."

"Who is this boy?" Fleur asked her other self.

"Harry James Potter," the older her answered with a smirk.

"You're kidding me," Fleur said, blinking. "I and Harry Potter were _dating_?"

"More than that. He said that if we survived, he wanted to marry me," the other Fleur said sadly.

"I suppose if anyone can understand not wanting to be seen as a conquest, he could, with everyone who likely pursue him for his fame," Fleur said after a moment's thought. "He's nearly three years younger than me, though."

"He is," the older her answered back. "He's lived a difficult life, so in many ways, he's a lot older. In other ways, not so much. He has had few friends in his life - none, in fact, until he attended Hogwarts - so friendships and relationships are difficult for him."

The dreaming Fleur frowned, "Why would he have no friends until he attended Hogwarts?"

"Because a manipulative wanker of an old man wanted him to suffer so he'd be easier to manipulate," her older self spat. "I am going to have to disappear soon, and you will experience my memories. Think of it like non-magical cinema, you will see and know the memories but you won't suddenly be twenty-one years of age. Once the process is done, you will be skilled at Occlumency, so you can store and compartmentalize the memories for easy access."

"Oh! I have been trying to learn that, but it's been difficult," the younger Fleur said, perking up.

"It took us two years to become proficient in it. You're lucky I'm simplifying the process," her older self quipped. "Now, prepare yourself. Some of this will be traumatic."

"I'm ready."

With that, the older her turned into particles of light and flowed into her body.

HPHPHPHPHP

The memories began to pass quickly. The rest of her sixth year, and then her seventh, and then more. Scene after scene after scene.

~~~

"Madame Maxime! Zey are saying zat zis little boy is to compete also!"

"What is ze meaning of zis, Dumbly-dorr?"

~~~

"I saw Madame Maxime there," the boy before her stated, shuffling his feet, "But I wanted to be sure you knew. The first task is dragons. From my research, we'll have to get past them or steal something."

"Why are you telling me this?" Fleur asked, looking at him cautiously.

"This tournament is dangerous. I really didn't put my name in, and I know you did. But I still couldn't live with myself if you got hurt when I could have said something. I already sent a message to Krum and Cedric."

~~~

"You saved her! You saved my sister!" Fleur hugged Harry tightly, kissing both of his cheeks and causing him to blush.

"I couldn't leave her down there," Harry stammered, getting glared at by Ron in the process. "That's all."

~~~

"Will you write me?" Fleur asked, as she stood on the step of the Beauxbatons carriage.

"Of course I will, Fleur, you're my friend." She could see the dark circles under his eyes, and worried.

"I'll write you every week," she promised, before Madame Maxime coughed and she was forced to hug him and step away from the door.

~~~

"I'm sorry, Miss Delacour. Harry was most affected by the Tournament, and he decided that he had to put it behind him," the old man said to her, his voice sad. "I think you were a reminder. He said that he didn't want to speak to you."

"No, I don't think that's possible. He promised to write me, and I did send him letters," she stated with a frown.

"I'm sure he received them, but if he's not writing back, perhaps you should give him space?" the man suggested.

Her shoulders slumped. How could he? He'd _promised_ her.

~~~

"Hello, Fleur," Harry said quietly. "It's been a long time."

"It has." Her voice was cool, looking at him with her ice-blue eyes.

"Not exactly the best time to meet again, but it's good to see you," Harry said hesitantly.

"Is that all you have to say to me?" she asked.

He was starting to get angry, "Say to you? What do you mean?"

"Well, you are the one who decided he had to 'put the Tournament behind him'," she quoted. "And that apparently included me!"

"What are you talking about?" Harry stared at her. "I didn't put you behind me! You're the one who decided that I was too young. 'He's a nice boy, but only a boy!'"

"No, what are _you_ talking about? I sent you letters and when you didn't respond, spoke to Dumbledore. He told me all about how you were so upset by the tournament that you didn't want to speak to me anymore," Fleur almost spat out in her rising anger.

"I didn't get _any_ letters. I sent you them every week. Sometimes more, at first," Harry insisted. At her words, he blinked. "I... spoke to Dumbledore, and he said that you had talked to him and asked him to talk to me, that I was just a little boy and you didn't think we should speak till I was older."

"No..." Fleur blinked at him, "You wrote me?"

"You wrote _me?_ "

"I'm going to guess you didn't say what I was told, either," Fleur said with a sigh. "Why would Dumbledore tell us what he did?"

"I don’t know," Harry said. He looked down a moment. "I spent so much time upset and lonely, thinking you didn't want to be my friend anymore. I should have known better, should have trusted you."

"No, Harry," Fleur said quietly, touching his arm, "I believed him too, we trusted him to be honest. My guess is there were some sort of ward blocking your mail."

"Probably. But I still want to know why," Harry said.

"His funeral is in a few hours. We can slip into his office and look around," Fleur said after a moment's thought.

He nodded, "Okay."

~~~

Harry and Fleur emerged from the pensieve. They'd found it in Dumbledore's office and saw that it was full of memories, so took it so they could view the memories and perhaps find answers.

"I don't believe it. They were _spying on me_ ," Harry said quietly, his voice shaking. "Were Hermione and Ron really my friends at all?"

"Harry, you saw how he spoke. They thought they were helping you," Fleur pointed out gently.

"It doesn't matter. They broke my trust. The things I told them were _private_ and they agreed to tell Dumbledore."

"So what are we going to do?" Fleur asked.

"We?" Harry asked, looking up at her as if surprised she wanted to help.

"We," Fleur said firmly. "I'm not going to let you get away from me again."

Harry flushed, before saying, "Before he died, Dumbledore told me how Voldemort came back. There are these things called horcruxes..."

~~~

More images flood past. She and Harry hunting horcruxes. Them growing closer, her finding out more about his past, and how he'd been treated, both before Hogwarts and within the school itself. Her showing him how to use fiendfyre to destroy the locket. Each horcrux handled in turn, even as Voldemort's grip grew tighter upon the British wizarding society.

Finally, the final horcrux.

"You heard what he said," Harry told Fleur quietly. "I'm the last horcrux, Fleur."

"There has to be another way!" Fleur insisted. "We can do research. Or speak to the goblins. They aren't nice people, but they're honorable, and they are very knowledgeable about curses!"

"But Voldemort is here now. If we flee, he will kill everyone here. I can't have that on my conscience, Fleur. You know that."

"I can't lose you, Harry. Not again," she insisted.

"I know, Fleur. I love you, you know. I think I fell for you a little the first moment I met you. You'd called me a 'leetle boy', but I thought you were so smart and beautiful." He sighed, "You know I have to do this."

"Kiss me, Harry," she said quietly.

He leaned in and softly kissed her. "Remember me."

And he walked off.

Off to his death.

~~~

In the end, Neville Longbottom killed Voldemort, and the public acclaimed him as a savior. He argued the point, but the British public ignored him. Harry simply became a footnote, another casualty. All he had done to stop Voldemort was forgotten or ignored, and she couldn't announce the existence of horcruxes, or others might try the same thing. Some even declared him to be a fake, which infuriated her.

And Fleur Delacour mourned.

Harry had left her everything. She lived in Grimmauld Place, where they had often stayed during their search for the horcruxes. It was there that she made a decision, and searched. And found two rituals in the deepest part of the Black Library.

Both would require a death. But she was willing to give her own to the cause. To change the past, for the better.

 _In the end,_ Fleur thought as her blood poured into the engraved runes, _My past will be my future. I leave it to you, my younger self, to change things. To save him._

And everything went dark.

HPHPHPHPHP

Fleur Isabelle Delacour woke up, crying softly. She remembered everything. She was still herself, but the memories were there and she could feel her future self's love and despair.

Perhaps she would fall for Harry, or perhaps she wouldn't. But she would fulfill her future self's last wish, and help him.

Rising from her bed, Fleur got ready for the day, and went downstairs. Seeing her father, she said quietly, "Papa, I need to speak to you."

Her father looked at her fondly, "What can I do for you, my little Fleur?"

"I'm hardly little," she said with a frown before shaking her head, "Can we talk in your study?"

"This sounds serious, then," her father told her. "All right, follow me." He led her into his office, shutting the door. "What's wrong, Fleur?"

"I had a dream. Well, it was more than a dream..." She began to explain what she'd dreamed, and summarized what she now knew. She concluded with, "I know it's hard to believe, but I know and understand things I didn't before, including some powerful spells and wards, so that is some proof. And I can tell you where one of his horcruxes is right now, for you to look for it."

"The fact you know what a horcrux _is_ , is frightening enough," her father said. "Most governments restrict such knowledge to their version of the Assembly, as that knowledge is incredibly dangerous." He mused, "There are some methods of temporal travel. They're what time turners are based upon. Most are in the hands of the Assembly or equivalents; it's surprising such rituals are out in the wild, as it were. It's possible, though."

"Well, the Gaunt shack is near Little Hangleton, in Britain. It's protected by many wards and protections, though we never went near it. Dumbledore retrieved the ring and cursed himself. There's apparently a strong compulsion on the ring to make you wear it, at which point the curse activates. He eventually died from it," Fleur said before spitting, "Luckily for him."

Her father blinked, "You aren't fond of Dumbledore?"

"I told you some about the future. Harry and I became good friends at one point. Then Dumbledore blocked our mail and told us that the other didn't want to speak to us anymore. It really hurt. We found out later, after he died, that he'd lied to us," Fleur explained sadly.

"Why would he do that?" her father asked, frowning.

"From what we found from his memories, he wanted Harry under his control, and I was a threat to that. Worse, Harry was an accidental horcrux. Dumbledore wanted him to die, and in order to ensure that, wanted him to be alone. Having someone to care for might have stopped him from letting himself be killed," she almost snarled. "He wouldn't have done so, either, if not for the fact Dumbledore arranged for him to find out right before a big battle with Voldemort. He could either flee and see everyone die, or let himself be killed so someone could defeat Voldemort. He chose the latter, the self-sacrificing idiot," she said fondly.

Some part of her father noted the way his daughter spoke of the boy. The rest was shocked, "Harry Potter is a horcrux? Are you sure?"

"Yes," Fleur said to him. "Assuming I didn't dream all of this, though the fact that horcruxes are real makes that unlikely. _Is_ there a way to remove it without him dying?"

"It's..." Her father paused, "... possible, I think. It's likely to be very painful, but there are rituals to manipulate horcruxes. They involve transferring the horcrux to a vessel of equal magic. It's not my specialty, but I know of it due to my time working in Egypt when I was younger."

Fleur frowned, "Harry is a very powerful wizard. He cast a patronus at the age of thirteen that drove away over a hundred dementors."

"Hmm. We will likely have to go with a powerful vessel, then," her father said after a moment's thought." He tapped his lip, musing, "I'll have to speak to experts; I simply know that the ritual exists and its basic elements. First, we'll send a group of people to Little Hangleton to verify the presence of the horcrux and retrieve it, and go from there."

Fleur nodded slowly, and considered. "It's strange. I have the memories of my older self, but they are more like a book or a non-magical cinema. It's not _me_ , but at the same time, I can tell it was me." She frowned. "Harry should be staying in Diagon Alley around now, I'd like to meet him. We need to get him away from his Aunt and Uncle, Dumbledore makes him live with them, and they treat him horribly."

"That may be simpler than you think," her father said to her. "Dumbledore may be standing in for him in the magical world because his guardians are non-magicals, but if they sign over guardianship to a magical family he won't be able to do so anymore. He has no legal right to contest if they choose to do so. I could talk to them, if they treat him as badly as you say, they'd probably agree to sign papers. At that point, he'd be my responsibility."

"Thank you, papa!" Fleur said, hugging him tightly, "I just... I _know_ what he's going through. This year, Sirius Black escapes from Azkaban. He spends the year worried and nearly dies to Dementors, that's when he drives them off. I want to help him." She looked down. "We'll need to help Sirius Black, too. He's Harry's godfather, and innocent."

"I understand. You said he'd be in Diagon Alley?" he asked. Then what she said registered, "Sirius Black is _innocent_?"

"Yes, papa." Fleur said, "He told me, well, the future me that his aunt said some nasty things about his mother, and he lost control of his magic. He left the house and took a room at the Leaky Cauldron. As for Black, Pettigrew was the real Secret Keeper and is still alive."

"Well, then. We'll take a portkey to Britain. Rather than stay at the Leaky Cauldron, however, I think I'll rent a house. I can have it warded. It's safer that way," her father said to her. "You get packed, while I talk to your mother."

Fleur nodded and turned, heading up the steps to her room. Humming, she started to pack. Soon, she'd meet Harry for the first time! Technically.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title is a homage to Harlan Ellison's _Soldier From Tomorrow_ , though the only plot parallel is someone from the future going to the past to change things.
> 
> This is another of my 'tropey' works, dealing with time travel, politics, some bashing, and so on. It's meant to be fun, not taken seriously. I have other fics where I avoid a lot of bashing (one with a tiny bit, one with none.)
> 
> Note that Hermione and Ron are not bad people. Dumbledore very carefully phrased things in a 'I'm worried about Harry, he won't talk to me' way. It was not good that they'd talk to him and break Harry's privacy, but they were _trying_ to be helpful and good friends. Dumbledore's good at the ol' manipulation.
> 
> I went with more of a 'memory transfer' than 'soul transfer' because I wanted a romance, and while I can deal with large age gaps when people are older (at least 15-16 for Harry), 13 is just too young for a large age gap IMO. 13 and 16 is doable, as Harry is mature in some ways. Not so mature in others. Fleur isn't 'in love' with Harry right now, but she sees her older self's attraction and likes the idea. She's a bit of a romantic. :) She has seen enough to want to help him though, she's got a good heart.
> 
> When I'm quoting the book, I kept the horrible French "accent" Rowling used. Otherwise, I skipped it.


	7. Void-Touched 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry is chosen by a certain being who exists 'Outside' our reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writer's Block suuuuucks. So I worked on this while I made plans.

Harry James Potter lay in his cupboard and cried. His entire body felt like it was on fire. It was just more of the same, but he hadn't been beaten this badly since Dudley went off to Smeltings. He had _thought_ it was a good day. He'd come home from Stonewall and no one was around, so he could swipe some food from the fridge before dashing off to the library to do his homework. It was only when he came home to find Vernon and Petunia glaring at him that he knew something bad was about to happen to him.

He sighed, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. Apparently, someone at Stonewall had made a mistake. He'd managed to convince them to give him his reports rather than mailing them, as his Aunt and Uncle _certainly_ wouldn't notice not receiving them. Without Dudley around, he could actually do well in classes.

At least, he could do so until they were sent an invitation to the end of year awards ceremony and found out how well he was doing. Of _course_ , he had to be cheating. A freak like him couldn't do so well in classes! After the yelling came a beating from his fat uncle, before Vernon threw him into the cupboard.

He wasn't sure what to do. From this point on, they'd actually want to see his reports if only to make sure he wasn't 'cheating', and if he did well he'd get more beatings. He sighed, body aching as he started to fall asleep.

That's when things got weird.

He was standing near a street light, on a strip of land floating in a gray sky and other bits of land could be seen in the distance. He seemed to be standing on a sidewalk, with part of the street to the side. Taking a slow step forward, he saw a figure slowly appear out of the mist. Shrouded in dark shadows, it was a man wearing old-fashioned clothing. His eyes were black pools, and his voice was oddly placid as he spoke, "Hello, Harry. You've had a hard life, have you not? You've done well in spite of difficult circumstances." The figure's eyes glinted with curiosity, "This interests me. I am the Outsider, and this is my Mark."

Suddenly, Harry's hand began to burn and as he lifted his hand, he saw a strange tatoo appear on the back of his hand; it slowly formed into some sort of strange symbol. He hissed at the pain, glancing up at the man. "What... is going on?" For some reason, Harry found himself unable to move.

The man continued, strange black eyes unwavering as he regarded Harry, lifting a hand to brush his finger over Harry's brow, "There are forces in the world and beyond the world, great forces that are beyond normal magic. Such forces now serve your will. Use this newfound power, my gift to you." Suddenly, the man performed an elegant bow, "Come find me." He disappeared into the mist and shadow.

Some part of Harry wanted to just sit down to wait for the man to return. He didn't like getting played with, and this mysterious figure was doing just that. But the mark on his hand told him something _strange_ was going on, and one thing he learned living with the Dursleys was that you never took chances when something bad could happen. It was best to follow along, at least for now.

He moved forward, reaching the edge of the platform. He could see the sky all around him, and in the distance another platform; it was perhaps ten meters away. He lifted a hand to run his fingers through his hair and saw the tattoo on his hand glow briefly, and he considered. He had a feeling. He didn't know where it came from, but...

Lifting his hand, he stretched it out towards the other platform. He felt a warmth rush through him and suddenly he was standing on the other platform. He turned, and looked back, and saw the platform he'd originally appeared on, complete with street light. He had teleported or something! "Okay, this could be cool," he murmured to himself.

From platform to platform he went, growing more skilled at this strange form of travel, until he reached the end where the Outsider was standing and looking away into the sky. "Okay, who _are_ you? Outsider, or whatever, what's that mean? Where am I?"

The man turned towards him and smirked, seeming to ignore his question, "You have a destiny, Harry." He chuckled, "Destiny. Some might call such a thing a curse. We are presently in the Void. My home." He gestured with a hand towards the vast expanse of gray. "It is very rare that I am able to touch a person's destiny and leave them my Mark. You are the first in over a hundred years." He tilted his head to the side, "Remember, Harry. Live your life as _you_ wish. Not as others wish you to."

"I will be watching."

HPHPHPHPHP

Harry woke up. Blinking in confusion, he looked around. That was one _hell_ of a dream. He carefully looked at the old, battered digital watch he wore, and saw that it was past two in the morning. He blinked. Why didn't he hurt? Vernon had really worked him over. He carefully reached up to turn on the light, and gasped when he saw a familiar tattoo on his hand. "Blood hell, it wasn't a dream?" He lifted his shirt, and saw unblemished skin. "I was bruised to high heaven a bit ago," he said to himself, blinking. "Well, it certainly wasn't a dream with the tatoo. And somehow, I feel fine."

As Harry moved, something dark dripped down his cheek onto his mattress, and he frowned, lifting his hand. It came away with some dark liquid on his fingers. "What the hell?" He picked up an old shirt he no longer used from the side of the bed and rubbed it over his face, coming away with more black... stuff. "What happened?" With no response forthcoming, he sighed, thinking before deciding that there wasn't anything he could do about it right now, anyway. He certainly couldn't tell his Aunt and Uncle he needed help.

After a moment's consideration, Harry slipped quietly out of the cupboard. They didn't lock him in anymore, thankfully, not since he'd started Stonewall. Tossing the old shirt into the trash, he slipped out into the back yard and looked around, before lifting his left hand, concentrating. Another flush of heat flowed through him and he ended up on the other side of the yard. "Yeah, this is cool. I wonder..." He knew what was on the other side of the fence, having hidden there so often from Dudley. He reached out his hand and _focused_ and soon appeared beyond the fence. "All right, so it's not limited to sight. Have to see how far it is, and go on from there."

Some practice and experimentation yielded more results. He could teleport around ten meters. He needed to know what the target looked like, either through sight or experience. He couldn't simply teleport to the other side of a wall. Multiple jumps in a row made him tired. All in all, a very useful ability. No longer would the Dursleys be able to lock him up.

He just wondered who this Outsider was, and why he decided to 'mark' him.

HPHPHPHPHP

The next few weeks were a trying time for Harry, some things going better than others.

In order to hide the strange mark on his hand, he wrapped the hand in gauze from the bathroom, telling his aunt he'd burnt himself while doing the cooking. She just wrinkled her nose and told him he better not have let anything 'icky' fall into their food. He later picked up a set of dark gray cotton gloves from a thrift store, wearing one over his left hand to cover the mark.

He wasn't allowed to go to the awards ceremony; he told the school that his guardians had a prior engagement that he was obligated to attend as well. They believed him easily enough. He'd long ago learned to _not_ tell people about how he was treated by his relatives. At best, they somehow forgot all about it. At worst, they told his Aunt and Uncle about his 'lies' and he received further abuse.

Dudley also came home from Smeltings and that led to even more trouble. Harry spent all of his time at the library when possible, but occasionally he found himself once more running as Dudley and his friends took part in their favorite game: _Harry Hunting_. Luckily, ever since that dream, he was far more fit than before and found himself able to run a lot better than before. Not much _faster_ , but he could sprint far longer and keep running at a good pace almost forever.

Harry practiced his strange ability more, and figured out something else that could be done with it. While looking at the strange mark on his hand, he had focused on it and tried to figure out what it was _doing_ , exactly. A few hours yielded no results, but he was patient and had little else to do in his cupboard. Eventually, he felt that warmth behind his eyes and he instinctively let it flow. Suddenly, he could see in his cupboard as if the light were on. Oddly enough, the entire area seemed to have a strange, red glow.

He later discovered that only his Aunt and Uncle's house glowed on the street. When he examined the house from outside, there were also veins of other colors pulsing throughout the red light: blue and yellow and a dark purple. He still had absolutely no clue what _that_ meant. But he could apparently see in the dark? That was useful.

As the weeks passed, Harry got into a routine. Wake up, make breakfast for his relatives, sneaking as much as he could in the process. Either run to the library to read or teleport up to the attic to do the same. He'd even 'borrowed' a lamp to plug in so he could read at night when everyone else went to bed. The Dursleys never came up there; he wasn't sure if Dudley or Vernon could _fit_ through the small trapdoor. Come home in time for dinner. Avoid Dudley's and his friends' attempts to pummel him. Make dinner. Go into his cupboard so Dudley didn't get ideas. Steal food from the kitchen when possible to augment his meager meals. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

One day a little over a week before Harry's birthday, that routine was broken. As he was picking up the mail in front of the letterbox, he saw one was addressed to him. From a _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_. Seriously? He was suddenly reminded that the Outsider guy mentioned that his mark was 'beyond normal magic'. That implied there _was_ normal magic out there. Not wanting his relatives to take the letter before he could read it, Harry slipped the letter into his cupboard before heading into the kitchen. Setting the letters on the table, he quietly slipped back out and entered his cupboard, picking up his library books and slipping the letter into one.

He slipped out the door before they could stop him and after a moment's thought slipped out of sight behind some bushes and blinked into the attic. Sitting down near the window, he opened the letter to read. It only led to more questions.

Who the _hell_ was Albus Dumbledore? He was accepted? How, when he didn't apply? They await his owl?

Harry rubbed his brow, and considered. It might be a way to get away from the Dursleys. _If_ it is real. After a few moments, he opened up a notebook and wrote in clear lettering: **I accept your invitation. I am unsure where to get the materials listed, nor if I have enough money for them. I also have no clue about magic, so am really hoping this isn't some sort of prank. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. Assistance would be appreciated. Harry Potter**

Harry then teleported behind the bushes in the back yard, and looked around. Spotting a brown owl sitting on the edge of the fence, he approached, "Uh." _I feel so stupid_ , he thought, before continuing, "Can you take this back to wherever it's supposed to go?" The owl made a soft barking sound and accepted the envelop and winged away.

Releasing a breath, Harry murmured, "Well, let's see where this takes me." He moved behind the bushes and again teleported into the attic to read.

HPHPHPHPHP

It was the next morning, and Minerva McGonagall was in her office. She looked up as a brown owl winged its way through her open window. The elderly woman smiled as she accepted the letter, and watched it fly away before reading. She frowned, folding the letter again. Harry Potter didn't know about magic? Did his guardians never tell him anything? She considered. Albus had wanted to be notified when Harry's response came, but she was a little worried about the response. Even if his guardians hadn't told him anything, Albus should have. After a few moments, she decided that she would be the one to talk to the boy.

Decision made, McGonagall decided to handle this now. She got to her feet and approached her fireplace. Throwing floo powder into the fireplace, she stated, "The Leaky Cauldron," and disappeared into the now-green flames. Emerging from the other side, she left the inn, waving her wand and transfiguring her clothes into muggle wear. Adding a few more spells so muggles wouldn't spot her arrival, she apparated to the park she remembered to be near Harry's home.

Arriving, she walked down the street slowly and eventually approached Harry's home. Stepping onto the premises, she could feel powerful magic from the wards that were on the property. Approaching the front door, she knocked upon it, and a painfully-slender woman, presumably Petunia Dursley, answered the door.

"Yes?" she asked, frowning.

"Mrs. Dursley, I'm here to speak to you and your nephew, Harry Potter?" McGonagall stated.

"Who are you, and what do you want him? Has he caused trouble for you too?" the woman asked, still frowning.

"No? I am here from Hogwarts, to discuss his schooling," McGonagall began.

The woman blanched, "He is not attending _that school_. He is already attending Stonewall, and will stay there!" She slammed the door, and McGonagall could hear her yelling for Harry. Sliding her wand out of her sleeve, McGonagall gestured and unlocked the door before she entered the house, looking around with a frown. She could see Petunia in the narrow hall leading into the kitchen. When the woman saw McGongall walk into her house, she said, "Out! Out, you are not wanted here."

"Mrs. Dursley, you need to listen to me," McGonagall stated with a severe look. "Harry's parents already enrolled him into Hogwarts before they passed, and you cannot stop him from attending. Nor should--" About to say more, she saw the door near Petunia open, and she gasped. She could see a tiny space with a bed and little else. "Is this where you have him sleep?"

The look McGonagall received was one part terror, one part anger. Deciding that she was caught anyway, Petunia snapped, "It's all he deserves. If you think differently, you take him. We never wanted the freak anyway!" Beside her, Harry looked worried at these events, taking a step back towards the cupboard again.

McGonagall was incensed. "Freak? You call your own nephew a _freak_?" It took all of her control not to hex the woman. She _knew_ Albus had been wrong to send him here. And he had told her over and over how loved and cared for he was! She really shouldn't do this as there was a procedure for this sort of thing with the DMLE, but McGonagall was _angry_. "All right, Harry. Can you get all of your things, so we can go? Make sure you get everything, as you apparently won't be returning."

"Um, okay, ma'am," he said, giving Petunia a cautious look and entered the cupboard. There was some rooting around, and he said, "I don't have anything to put my clothes in," he said over his shoulder.

As she approached, McGonagall gestured with her wand and a large leather bag appeared. "Use this. We'll have to get you a real one, but that will last a few hours."

"All right," he said as he started to load the bag with oversized shirts, pants, and other clothing. He looked around, adding a few books. "I'll need to drop off some library books if I'm not going to be staying here anymore," he added.

"We can do that on the way to Diagon Alley," McGonagall said. "Anything else you need to collect?" At his head shake, she nodded and said, "Then come on, Harry."

Harry followed her out the door, hoping he'd never have to return.

HPHPHPHPHP

After a quick stop at the library to drop off Harry's library books, McGonagall led him to the small park not far from Privet Drive. Harry asked, "Uh, where are we going to go, anyway?"

"First, we will go to Diagon Alley, which is where the magical shopping district is," McGonagall answered him. "We'll go to the bank to get a vault key for your trust vault and disable the old one. Once you've gotten your things, I will take you to my home while I contact a friend of mine."

"A friend?" Harry asked her, watching her cautiously. You learned quickly to take care, if you wanted to survive with the Dursleys.

"Yes. I need to speak to her about where you'll be staying now, she'll help me with all the legalities. I should have spoken to her first," she admitted to Harry, "But I couldn't leave you in that home. It's obvious that they mistreat you."

Harry shrugged, and said, "It's fine. I'm used to it."

"You shouldn't _have_ to be used to it, Harry," McGonagall said with a slight frown.

He shrugged again, almost casually. It was a few moments later that what she had said before registered. "Wait, trust vault?"

McGongall nodded, "Yes, your father's family was very wealthy. I'm sure he provided you with a trust vault; it's normal for wealthier families. Such things are for pocket money and paying for your education and such."

"I actually have money?" Harry just stared at her, "Petunia and Vernon always told me my parents were jobless drunks who died in a car accident." The idea that they actually cared enough to provide for him surprises him, even though he refused to believe his relatives. Being told something often enough makes you start to believe it whether you want to or not.

"The more I hear," hissed McGonagall, "The more I want to go back to that house and curse each and every one of them." She shook her head slowly with a sigh, "But that could cause complications, later." It was like she was trying to convince herself of this fact. Taking a breath, she offered her hand, "Take my hand, I will be moving us to Diagon Alley through magic. It will feel like you're being squeezed, and may be uncomfortable your first time. I'd normally show you the Knight Bus, but I want to avoid undue attention. We'll handle that later." She paused, and then added, "Oh." She gestured with her wand, and a small baseball cap appeared. "Put that on, your scar isn't as obvious as I'd expected, but best to be safe."

Harry opened his mouth, about to explain that it had faded recently, but caught himself. He couldn't trust her, not yet. Instead he nodded, taking her hand after putting on the hat. A few moments later, he felt an intense squeezing sensation as everything went dark, and he fell on his knees on cobblestones. He was in a small cul de sac off a wide street.

"Here we are. Diagon Alley."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hogwarts is going to start later at thirteen, and I'm tweaking things a bit. It very definitely is not going to follow canon events, though I will use some of them in new ways. Like, Quirrel will be there. Also, as Harry is around thirteen, he is more mature. He's also a lot more cautious after having to deal with the Dursleys with no support at all for longer; that shapes you when you start to grow up. He will take risks if he thinks there's a good chance of something positive happening, though.
> 
> The Outsider is basically someone Voldemort would _love_ to be, if his actions weren't so limited in the real world. And yes, I paraphrased his speech to Corvo. It fit very well. If you look at the Outsider's history, Harry is _totally_ someone he'd want to Mark. Not only is he someone with a big destiny and capacity to change the world around him, but he's a bullied child, someone the Outsider likely will have a lot of sympathy for.
> 
> I will be modifying some of the powers from Dishonored. Like, instead of "Windblast", there will be a host of elemental powers. Dark Vision, in addition to the obvious, will let him "see" magic instead of seeing through walls. Later, he might gain the ability to see through walls as well. I'm not sure if I'll have Harry pick up Devouring Swarm. If I do, it won't just eat people, but let him control the swarm, maybe entangling people. And it won't be rats. It will be snakes, of course.
> 
> I'm going to avoid the whole 'gather runes and bone charms' thing as that's very game-y. Harry will learn new powers by practice, trial and error, and some hints from the Outsider. And yes, he woke up with variants of Blink and Vitality. He won't regenerate like Wolverine or anything, but I'm letting basic Vitality give him a bit of recovery speed and general stamina boosts. Basically, bruises recover quickly, severe wounds will heal only a little faster than normal. He also lost the horcrux, but that was due to the Outsider more than anything else.
> 
> As I'm sure someone will ask, I haven't decided on a romantic partner as yet, if one will exist. I lean, however, to Padma Patil or Su Li.
> 
> Oh, and I haven't decided if Dumbledore will be a (relatively) good person, or be a bit of a bastard.


	8. Harry Potter, History Repeats 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Master Auror Potter deals with an attack in the Department of Mysteries.
> 
> This sounds familiar.
> 
> Unfortunately, an accident leads him to his past. Now, a grumpy, cynical auror has to deal with youth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to apologize for not getting **A Flower For a Teacher** out, yet. I know where I want to go, but it just won't come. I've written about 1k words, but I've written and re-written the next bit and it just feels stilted. I'll keep writing it, and may just jump to Respawn while I try, I've been spinning my wheels for a long while on Flower.
> 
> So, I wrote this to try to kick start myself. :P

It _had_ been a normal day for Harry. Get up, speak to Ginny quietly, and leave to go to work. He and Ginny made their relationship work, as difficult as it was. They were best friends, and that was enough to make it tolerable. It was often that he damned Albus Dumbledore and Molly Weasley for putting them in the situation they were in. It was why he and Ginny had agreed that if they ever decided to have children, they would _never_ bind a child with such a thing as a marriage contract.

But then an alarm had been triggered, and he rushed to the Department of Mysteries with a group of aurors, only to be caught in a firefight, spells glittering through the air. The other aurors fell quickly to an ambush but Harry and Ron, long used to fighting, had pulled through and put the attackers on the run. They split up to handle the attackers, Ron heading towards the Death Room and Harry the Time Room.

Harry didn't like visiting the Death Room, even decades later. Ron knew that.

These thoughts didn't distract him as he came upon one of the fleeing intruders. _A battle in the Department of Mysteries. This is entirely too familiar a situation_ , Harry thought to himself as he dodged a Torture Curse, moving quickly to send a volley of curses back, wand moving quickly from one to the next. Severing Charm, Stunning Spell, and finally Snape's Sectumsempra flew outwards, and his opponent screamed in agony as the Stunning Spell shattered his shield and the Sectumsempra drove its way into his guts. It was Nott. Why was Nott here in the Department of Mysteries? _One down_ , thought Harry as he moved further into the Department of Mysteries' Time Room after stunning Nott. He hoped he wouldn't bleed out, but couldn't take the time to make sure yet. They were using Unforgivables, so he felt no guilt in going lethal.

He still didn't know _what was going on_.

Skidding to a stop, Harry rolled to avoid a Killing Curse, looking up to see who he had been chasing turn towards him... Malfoy and Parkinson, plus an unknown. What were they doing here, anyway? Parkinson he could see causing trouble with some stooge, but Malfoy was reformed, at least to a degree. He was still an arrogant arse, but Harry had _thought_ the man had changed his ways.

These thoughts were put aside as he dodged another Killing Curse from Malfoy, conjuring a chunk of granite to block Parkinson's Torture Curse and shielding the stranger's Blood-Boiling Curse. "Malfoy, what the _shite_ is going on?" Harry's voice rose. "I thought you'd gotten this crap out of your system!"

Parkinson threw another Torture Curse at him as she, Malfoy and the other man split up, and Harry snarled. Getting boxed in could be deadly. No more nice auror. The spell chain he chose to use was dark - nothing illegal, but it definitely included spells that were frowned on. His wand blurred into a series of motions and Parkinson screeched as a Bone-Breaking Curse slammed into her chest after his Stunning Spell shattered her shield, splintering her ribs before dropping to another Sectumsempra. A second Sectumsempra took out the other man, who was apparently too stupid to shield.

Unfortunately, Malfoy had managed to get behind him in the distraction, and as Harry turned, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. The green of a Killing Curse neared him and his wand was out of place. Harry lifted his other hand, wandlessly summoning the first thing he saw to block the attack.

Then he realized it was a Time-Turner.

"Ah, shite," was the only thing Harry could manage as the time-turner exploded.

HPHPHPHPHP

Harry woke up. He didn't open his eyes, not wanting to alert anyone near him in case he was captured by enemies. It was really _sad_ that that was his first thought. Like he was channeling Mad-Eye. But you _weren't_ paranoid if they were really out to get you. After his teenage years and decades as an auror, he knew to be cautious. All Harry heard was the soft sound of breathing, and so he slowly opened his eyes to see a familiar sight, something he'd not seen in a long time.

The red drapery around his bed in Gryffindor Tower.

What the hell?

Slowly sitting up, Harry looked around. There was Ron, and over there was Neville. He could see Dean and Seamus on the other side of the room, too. He looked down at himself and saw a slender form, almost too thin in places. He looked so _young_!

Running his hand through his hair, Harry considered possibilities. It was too detailed to be an illusion. Nor was it polyjuice, body samples wouldn't last this long even with magic. They couldn't be metamorphmagi, there weren't this many in all of Europe. Some form of forced dream? Unlikely, he had managed to become quite skilled at Occlumency over the years after the horcrux disappeared. Insanity? He considered, before dismissing it. If he hadn't snapped after all the shit he'd endured during his teenage years, it was unlikely he'd do so _now_.

It had to be the Time-Turner. Somehow, its explosion interacted with magic of the Killing Curse and had pulled his soul back in time. He was somehow in his teenage body. Glancing at his hand, he noted the lack of scarring and decided he was before the hell that was his Fifth Year. He slowly leaned down and dug through the table by his bed, and found a few school books. Looking them over, he sighed.

Fourth Year. Fourth bloody Year. So he was a Triwizard Champion. Yay for him.

Sighing again, Harry got to his feet, and slipped his wand into his sleeve pocket. Digging into his trunk, he took the Map and his cloak, sliding them into a pocket in his robes. He headed down to the common room, walking slowly so as to not wake anyone up. Looking around and not seeing anyone, he searched the area. _There was usually a newspaper or two scattered about before the house elves cleared them out in the morning, if I remember right... yes!_

He stared at the date and just sighed. June 23rd. So it was now June bloody 24th. It was the day of the third task. The day when Voldemort came back, and Cedric died.

Not _bloody_ likely, not this time. Cedric would _not_ die. Nor would Sirius. Nor Remus. Nor Fred. Nor Tonks. Especially not Tonks. He'd admited to Ginny years later, when they were discussing things, that he'd loved Tonks but hadn't realized it. Couldn't, really, as he had no real experience at the time, thanks to Dumbledore.

He considered his options. If he did nothing and let one of the other Champions take the cup, it was possible that Voldemort would use one of them instead to come back to life. Even if the madman preferred to use Harry due to his blood protection. He might also simply kill them in a snit and try a different plan.

So, the best option was for Harry to get to the cup first, and _not_ let Cedric come with him. He was damn sure he could handle Wormtail, even with the pain from his scar. Occlumency would help there. He might even get Nagini, too.

Nodding to himself, Harry idly glanced at the map, and then pulled his cloak over his shoulders. He moved to open the door, taking another look at the map to be sure. Slipping into the corridor, Harry moved through the archway leading into the hallway that led to the Room of Requirement. He paced back and forth, and when the door of the Room appeared, he entered. It revealed a large room with a few chairs and an open space in the center. Perfect. He'd need to practice a bit to get used to his young body. That was enough space to move around easily.

Even as he planned, Harry moved to sit in one of the chairs. Even if the day worked out as he wanted, he'd have more to do. "Dobby?" he called, unsure if the elf would appear.

"Harry Potter Sir calls Dobby?" the energetic house elf asked.

He couldn't help it; Harry smiled, glad to see the elf. He was one of the many innocents he missed over the years. "Hello, Dobby," he said. "I was wondering. I'm in need of a house elf. Would it be possible for me to hire you?"

"Harry Potter Sir wants to hire Dobby?" the elf asked, hopping up and down.

Harry lifted a hand, "Relax, Dobby. If you're willing, yes. If I hire you, can anyone make you tell my secrets?" He didn't _think_ so, but he didn't really research house elves. No real need as an auror and hit wizard.

"No, Harry Potter, sir," the elf explained, "Even without a bond, if Dobby agrees to work for Harry Potter, Dobby cannot tell anyone anything Harry Potter doesn't wish him to."

Nodding, Harry said, "All right, Dobby. This is my only offer. One, you will receive one galleon a week and get one day off every week. You must also never overwork yourself. Two, you will _never_ punish yourself. If you think you've made a mistake, you will come to me and we can discuss the situation. Three, you will call me Harry, or if you absolutely must, Harry Sir. Not Master, Master Harry, or anything like that. Four, you aren't to reveal that you work for me. That's not because I'm ashamed of you, but because I'm going to need you to do a few things on the sly, and people might try to stop me if they find out you're my house elf." He paused, and looked at Dobby, "Do you accept these terms?"

Dobby considered, "Dobby can accept, but doesn't like the first part of the offer."

"Dobby, if you choose to work on your day off, that's fine. It's your choice. But you -must- rest some, and I want at least one day a week you can relax if you want, all right?" Harry said to him. "It's important to me, I don't want to treat you like the Malfoys did."

Dobby nodded and said, "All right. Dobby accepts Harry Sir's terms!"

Harry nodded at him and pulled a galleon from his pocket, handing it to Dobby, "There's your first week's pay. Can you bring me some breakfast? After you return, I will give you a few things to do later today, all right?"

"Right away, Harry Sir!" Dobby said, popping off. Harry returned to his planning. Today was going to be an interesting day.

HPHPHPHPHP

Even as Harry was making plans and practicing in the Room of Requirement, his friends were looking for him. "We have to find him, Ron!" declared Hermione. "I didn't see him at all this morning, and he wasn't at breakfast. What if something happened to him?"

"He's probably preparing," Ron assured her, though the red-head looked a little worried, too. They stood in the Gryffindor common room, having returned after lunch to see if Harry had shown up. "It's the final task, he probably wanted to get some last minute stuff done."

Hermione frowned, "You'd think he'd have come to talk to us if he was going to do that."

Ron shrugged, "Maybe he wanted to do the last bit himself. You know Harry, Hermione, he probably didn't want to have us worry and thus... made us worry." He looked amused. "Just his luck, he never catches a break."

Hermione rolled her eyes and slapped his arm gently. "Let's ask the Fat Lady," she suggested, moving to leave the common room. Turning towards the portrait, Hermione cleared her throat, "Ma'am, have you seen Harry today?"

"I haven't seen him, no," the Fat Lady told her. She paused and added, with a knowing smile, "However, very early in the morning, the door was opened and I heard someone come out but didn't see anyone."

"Harry's cloak?" Hermione murmured, "If he left before curfew ended, that makes sense. Where did he go?"

"He didn't take the stairs nearby, that's all I can tell you. I'd have heard them moving if he had," the Fat Lady explained.

"I don't know where he'd be going on this floor. Sometimes people meet up near the North Wing, but he doesn't have a girlfriend, does he?" Ron asked with a frown.

"Not that I know of. Harry can be a private person," Hermione said musingly, "But I don't think he'd hide a girlfriend."

Ron sighed, and touched Hermione's arm, "Come on. We can go wait downstairs. If we don't see him, I'm sure he'll be down in time for the Third Task, we can catch him after."

Hermione nodded and turned to follow Ron.

HPHPHPHPHP

Harry didn't bother to leave the Room until it was time for the Third Task. He wasn't sure how he'd deal with Ron and Hermione and had decided to put it off until later. They would be so _young_ and _innocent_. They hadn't yet had a year of hell, nor dealt with the death of a man they respected - whether he deserved it or not. They hadn't gotten married, nor had children yet. It was going to be hard.

He pulled on his cloak and slipped out the door, taking the stairs quickly and leaving the school. He'd timed it perfectly and arrived at the tent on time. Pausing to slip his cloak off, Harry pocketed it before entering the tent. He nodded towards Cedric, Fleur, and Krum before taking a seat.

"How you feeling, Harry? I haven't seen you all day," asked Cedric, and Harry flashed him a wry smile in response.

"About what you'd expect," he said to him, shrugging his shoulders. "I just hope I get through this, I bet this maze will have a _lot_ of dangerous creatures in it."

"You're probably right," Cedric agreed, pausing to think. "Skrewts, y'reckon?"

"Oh, definitely. Probably lots of things," Harry said. He smiled and looked at Fleur and Krum, "Good luck, you two."

"Thank you," Krum said tersely.

Fleur nodded at him with a warm smile, "You too, 'arry," she murmured. "Be safe, my sister is rooting for you." Her eyes twinkled, "After me, of course."

"Oh, I plan on it," Harry said. "I honestly was tempted to just walk in then immediately bow out, but I was worried that not even _trying_ might cause an issue with the goblet, so." He shrugged.

"It's probably best to not take chances," Fleur agreed, while Cedric shuddered.

Harry smirked, "No, I don't want to lose my magic or die or whatever a broken contract with the goblet causes. I doubt it's good." After doing a bit of research in the future, he'd found out it was a little of both. You would lose some or all of your magic, and doing so might kill you.

"All right, Champions!" Bagman said as he entered, "It's time. Each of you will enter the maze from a separate entrance. Harry and Cedric enter at the same time, then Viktor, and then Miss Delacour!" Fleur rolled her eyes at his phrasing. "If something happens and you are hurt, or need to retire, just cast the Red Sparks spell into the air and we'll come get you." He gestured, "Now right this way."

Harry followed the others out of the tent and let himself be led towards his entrance of the maze. If he was fast enough, he could get to the cup _before_ Crouch used the Imperius Curse on Krum. He could do this. He remembered the maze, even after all this time.

He'd spent far too much time remembering this day. Going over what could have been.

When the alarm sounded, Harry _ran_. Darting into the maze, he didn't pause, just kept running. Spotting the Boggart, he paused as he saw it turn into a dead body. Tonks. "Okay, fuck this shite." Instead of casting the Boggart-Banishing Spell, he waved his wand and sent forth a powerful Exploding Charm. With a loud crack, the thing disappeared. It'd return eventually, but _he_ didn't care. Harry dashed by as it tried to recover, and kept running.

He quickly reached the golden mist, still moving, and closed his eyes, diving through it. He felt a brief sense of vertigo before he rolled out the other side. _I have to outpace Crouch, so he doesn't have time to use the Imperius Curse on Cedric_ , Harry thought.

He did take a few wrong turns. His memory wasn't perfect even with Occlumency, after all. But he didn't slow down, just turned to run back the way he came, and took another path, using Hermione's Point Me charm now and again.

He was worried, he wasn't seeing any new monsters. Was he not outpacing Crouch? Perhaps Crouch had cleared out the monsters on his side of the maze before Harry had entered; he'd never had a chance to check on that.

Soon enough, he reached Hagrid's skrewt, and he didn't even stop; he snarled, "Defodio!" That's all it took; the Gouging Spell drilled through the skrewt's armor with the power Harry put into it and the creature dropped to the ground, twitching.

Running past, Harry looked back and forth, and saw movement. Cedric? No. _Crouch_. The man was looking in the other direction, perhaps waiting for Viktor to appear. Without a thought, Harry snapped off a stunner and quickly ran up to the fallen man, tapping him with his wand and disillusioning him.

"Dobby." When the house elf appeared, Harry told him, "Stay out of sight. Crouch is here, under a disillusionment charm. Please take him to the Room and keep him prisoner like I told you. Don't forget to strip him in case he has a portkey. If he wakes up, stun him again. Do not risk yourself."

With this, Harry turned, and continued to rush towards the center of the maze. At least he had an advantage in that he knew, generally, what was there from the last time. He couldn't let up. Just in case something changed and one of the others were quicker than before.

Paranoid? Perhaps.

Harry continued to wend his way through the maze, and stopped suddenly, panting, when he reached the sphinx. He listened to the creature as it spoke, "Just pass me lies your prize, young Champion! Answer this question, and you may pass. Fail, and you will have to face me." She took a breath and began to recite:

"First think of the person who lives in disguise,  
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.  
Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,  
The middle of middle and end of the end?  
And finally give me the sound often heard,  
During the search for a hard-to-find word.  
Now string them together and answer me this,  
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"

Harry immediately said, "Spider, now let me through, please." As the sphinx moved to the side, Harry darted past, still running, and saw the cup. As he reached the cup, he pulled his cloak from his pocket, and put it on, taking a breath. _Here goes nothing._

He grabbed the cup, and felt the characteristic pulling sensation of a portkey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like Time Travel tropes, shoot me. This is another story idea using them. This one being an old, run-down, smart Harry finding himself in his past due to the interactions of a Killing Curse and an exploding Time-Turner. Think Murtaugh from Lethal Weapon, or Mad-Eye Moody. Not as crazy as the latter, but he's a bit cynical, paranoid, and very experienced. He's learned a lot in the decades since Voldemort's defeat.
> 
> This is another of my tropey works, though in this one I plan on making Ron a good friend, as I know I've been kind of mean to him a time or two. :) It's pretty much canon in broad strokes, except Tonks never got together with Remus. Remus and Sirius were together, see. She still died at Hogwarts, though. Just broad strokes, though, as I do have a nasty Dumbledore. Molly really thinks she's doing the right thing.
> 
> As implied, Harry and Ginny were married due to a marriage contract signed by Dumbledore and Molly after Harry's Fifth Year. It was legally and magically binding, as they were their guardians at the time. They managed to remain good friends, in spite of being forced together. Harry looks the other way when Ginny visits Dean, who she _is_ in love with. Harry's had a fling or two, but hasn't fallen in love. He's too focused on his job. They have no children.


	9. Harry Potter, History Repeats 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry battles Voldemort, lies a lot, and makes plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so, y'know how I said I'd work on Respawn? I apparently lied. This story really wants to keep me busy.

A few moments later, Harry felt himself arrive in the graveyard, the rough ground shifting beneath him. Catching his balance and slowly looking around, he took a few steps to the side, placing the Triwizard Cup out of sight behind a gravestone. He looked around slowly, hearing voices in the distance.

Wait. Why wasn't his scar hurting? Something to think about, later.

"Wormtail, the portkey came through my wards, he's here," came a high-pitched voice.

"Are you sure, Master, I don't see anything?" Pettigrew stated, looking around in confusion.

"Yes, you dolt, I'm sure..." A pause, "Yes, Nagini also says someone is here." Harry swore as he Voldemort look in his direction. Trust Voldemort to have wards already in place. He also probably cast a revealing charm of some sort. Harry could almost _hear_ Moody yelling 'Constant Vigilance' in his head.

He held back, not wanting Voldemort to know _just_ how skilled he was, so cast verbally. " **Bombarda Maxima!** " Harry quickly cast a powerful Exploding Charm at ground between them, and saw Pettigrew go flying while Voldemort tried to shield the explosion. Unfortunately, his sheer lack of size sent him staggering back a few feet even as the shield absorbed most of the blow. " **Stupefy**." A quick Stunning Spell caught Pettigrew in midair, even as Harry dodged Voldemort's Killing Curse. He had to keep the rat alive until Sirius could be freed, or he'd have used a different spell. "You are one ugly baby," Harry said to the figure, trying to throw him off-balance.

"You _dare_? I am Voldemort, and you will die." Another Killing Curse streaked towards him and Harry ducked behind a gravestone, shielding to prevent any shards of rock from hitting him.

"You'll find that I dare a lot of things." **Animalis Revelio**. Silently casting a revealing charm, Harry looked around quickly, even as he cast a curse at Voldemort, just to keep him distracted. " **Sectumsempra!** " Watching the dark cutting curse streak towards Voldemort only to be blocked with a Shield Charm, he cast a few more spells at him. " **Diffindo. Bombarda. Defodio.** " Nagini would be coming.

Even as Voldemort cast a return volley at him, Harry moved, dodging them and shielding in turn. Killing Curses, Blood-Boiling Curses, Evisceration Curses, and more. Voldemort still had power and knowledge; he simply couldn't properly duel in that small, unwieldy body of his. Finally, Harry spotted a blue flash to his right and turned. " **Sectumsempra!** " he called. The dark curse streaked out and struck Nagini, slaying the serpent and causing a wailing cry as dark smoke seemed to emerge from the corpse.

Harry heard Voldemort screech in rage. "NAGINI! You dare!"

"Are you an idiot?" Harry continued to banter to distract the evil creature, again dodging Voldemort's attacks. "You think I'd let a _snake_ get near me so it could bite me? Snakes are icky." He didn't want Voldemort to think he had _another_ reason for targeting Nagini. He cast more spells at Voldemort, vocalizing each one. " **Stupefy. Bombarda. Sectumsempra. Defodio.** " Harry was careful not to go into any real spell chains; he wanted to look like a talented amateur, but not someone Voldemort had to really worry about he procured a body.

"You are a talented boy, you should join me. I could make you great," Voldemort began, before tossing more spells at Harry suddenly.

The raven-haired boy snorted, "First you say to join you, then you try to kill me. Good way to recruit someone," he snarked, before sending another Exploding Charm, this one directed behind Voldemort and to the side. " **Bombarda!** "

Harry slowly moved to place himself in position behind a gravestone even as Voldemort laughed, "That didn't come close, getting tired, Harry?"

Not responding to the homunculus' words, he gestured with his wand, half-hidden from sight, and transfigured a shard of rock behind Voldemort into a spike. **Mutio Inanimata.** "Accio!" Putting a lot of power into the last spell, the spike slammed into Voldemort's head from behind, and he fell twitching onto the ground.

A few moments passed, and a black, wraith-like figure rose from the corpse, "You _dare_ ; when I return, you and your friends will suffer greatly!" After his first year, Voldemort knew not to try to attack Harry in this form, so Harry watched as it fled.

_It's too bad I couldn't bring him back to Hogwarts,_ Harry thought. _Even as a disgusting snake-homunculus, I couldn't take the chance; he's too dangerous. Not to mention that I know Dumbledore might try something._

Harry moved over towards where Pettigrew fell and checked on him. Nodding, he stunned him again, making sure to put a lot of power into the spell. Then, he gestured with his wand, transfiguring Pettigrew into a small hamster, adding the Body-Bind Curse as well. The rat wasn't going to get away _this_ time, unlike in his Third Year. He wrapped him in his invisibility cloak, and slipped the bundle into his pocket. He then went to where Nagini's body was and transfigured it into a bone and vanished the blood, pocketing the bone as well.

_Time to return,_ Harry thought, and moved towards where he'd stashed the Triwizard Cup. Taking a breath, he grabbed it.

Once again, he felt the tug of the portkey.

HPHPHPHPHP

When Harry arrived on the winner's stand, there was chaos. People were talking and he could see Dumbledore and Snape talking quietly together. He heard a call, "Harry!" as Hermione rushed forward towards him, Ron near her. "Hey, Hermione, Ron," Harry said tiredly, offering a halfhearted smile as she ran into him, hugging him tightly.

"Mr. Potter, what happened? You were supposed to arrive on stage, but you didn't for some time!" demanded Bagman, even as Dumbledore and Snape began to make their way towards him.

"I'm not entirely sure," Harry told him. "I took the trophy and I ended up in a graveyard somewhere. I was attacked and I dived out of the way of a Killing Curse, then defended myself." Harry was watching Dumbledore carefully out of the corner of his eye as he spoke, "Fortunately for me, the trophy still had a portkey _here_ so when I finally managed to get back to the trophy, it brought me back here." He was speaking carefully, telling the truth but not the whole truth. There was a brief flash of disappointment in Dumbledore's gaze and Harry sighed. "I was lucky to get back, I think."

"Harry, can you tell us more?" Dumbledore asked him, and Harry shrugged.

"There's not much more to tell. I basically just ran and dodged, though I did cast a few spells now and then to try to distract whoever was attacking me. I'm just glad to be alive. Some of the spells they used looked scary. I'm glad I can dodge so well." He didn't meet Dumbledore's eyes, looking down as if tired, "I feel like I'm going to collapse, sorry, sir," he told him, and Ron reached out to grab his arm supportively. Harry felt a rush of affection for his friend. Sure, they'd had their problems, but he was there when it mattered. He also grew up.

For a moment, Harry thought Dumbledore might try to demand more information, but eventually he said, "All right, Harry. I'll send Madame Pomfrey examine you and make sure you're all right. Minister Fudge already left; your reward will be given to you when he gets around to it, I'm sure."

"Thank you, sir. Honestly, I'm just happy to be alive. I'd prefer to avoid an examination as I'm not really hurt, but I guess she probably should look me over to be safe," Harry acknowledged. He let Ron help him towards the school with Hermione, and was met halfway by Pomfrey, who began to fuss over him.

"Mr. Potter! Are you all right? The Headmaster said you had been taken away and gotten into a fight," she began.

"You might say that. There was a second portkey layered onto the trophy, and it took me to a graveyard somewhere, where I was attacked. I'm all right, but I know you probably want to look me over, anyway," Harry admitted. "I don't want to stay in the infirmary, though; it's not necessary."

"That's my decision," she chided, "But if you're truly all right, I'll let you rest in Gryffindor Tower," she stated.

Harry nodded, and followed her to the infirmary. Sitting down on the bed, he simply remained quiet as she waved her wand, examining him carefully. "You don't seem to be hurt," Pomfrey said, her voice a bit surprised. "That's a shock, considering some of the things you've been up to in the past. I'll give you an Invigoration Draught to keep you awake until you can get upstairs and rest."

Harry rolled his eyes, saying dryly, "I do apologize for not giving you injuries to heal." He was given a curious glance by Hermione, before he watched Pomfrey head to the storage room to retrieve the potion.

Hermione spoke up then, "Harry! Where were you this morning? We were looking for you. The Fat Lady said you'd gotten up really early and left."

"Hermione, calm down," Harry told her, just glancing at her a moment. "I was preparing for the Third Task, and making plans. I needed time alone."

"We were worried about you, you should have told us where you were going," Hermione said with a frown.

"Hermione." Harry _looked_ at her. "You are not my mother. You are my friend. I'm sorry if you were worried, but I did not have to tell you where I was going. I'm allowed some privacy now and then."

Hermione looked incensed and opened her mouth to argue, but Ron said to her, "He's right, Hermione. Do you tell _him_ everywhere you go?"

For a moment, she looked like she wanted to argue, then slumped. "You're right, sorry. I was just worried, with the Task coming up," she said to him.

"I understand," Harry assured her as Madame Pomfrey returned, offering him a potion vial. "Drink this, young man, and then you can go. You should go right to Gryffindor Tower to rest."

"I will rest, I promise," Harry assured her after drinking the potion and feeling energy surge through his veins. He rose to his feet, saying to Hermione and Ron, "Come on." Slowly heading his towards the stairs, he started up them, answering Ron and Hermione's questions about the maze as they went. "There were a lot of Hagrid's creatures. Blast-End skrewts, acromantula...I bet Fluffy was there, though I didn't see him, myself," he added, ignoring Ron's shudder at the mention of acromantula.

As they arrived at the door to Gryffindor, Harry said to the Fat Lady, "Aurum," and she opened the portrait door for them. Stepping through, he heard cheers. Lifting a hand, Harry squared his shoulders and said, "All right, calm down. Yes, I won. Yes, something happened at the end of the Task. No, I won't tell everyone about it right now, I need to rest, I'm exhausted and Madame Pomfrey ordered me to not exert myself. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to disobey _her_!" He smiled at the laughter, and moved his way through the common room, slipping a few coins to Fred and George, murmuring to them, and they nodded, "Fred and George will be back with a few cases of butterbeer, so have fun!"

He didn't notice Hermione's considering look as he made his way to the stairs. Turning, he said to Ron and Hermione "I'm going to go lay down and try to sleep." He leaned in and hugged Hermione, nodded at Ron, and disappeared up the stairs.

Slowly, Harry looked around. He could hear people celebrating in the common room. He slipped onto his bed and crossed his legs, casting a few spells to silence his bed and adding a Notice-Me-Not so if anyone came looking for him, they'll get distracted. After this, he took a breath, calling, "Dobby."

The house elf appeared, "Harry Sir called for Dobby?" he asked.

"Can you please take me to Crouch?" Harry asked, and the excitable elf nodded quickly and grabbed his arm. They appeared in the Room of Requirement, which now looked like a cross between a jail and a study. One side of the room had chairs and tables. On the other was a large metal cage in which a very naked Barty Crouch Junior could be seen, his clothing in a pile a distance away. Harry sighed and quickly waved his wand over the man's clothing, and pulled out the robe, handing it to Dobby, "Put this on him." As he spoke, he vanished the rest of the clothing, leaving Moody's peg leg and eye.

As Dobby dressed the unconscious man, Harry pulled his invisibility cloak from his pocket and unwrapped it to reveal Pettigrew. He glanced up as Dobby neared him, "Can you get me something made of metal, Dobby? Even just an old chair or table from one of the abandoned classrooms would work." Dobby nodded and disappeared, reappearing a few moments later with a metal chair.

Waving his wand, Harry transfigured the chair into metal box with a wire mesh on top so the inside of the box could be seen. He added a few protections on the box and then opened the cage. Putting Pettigrew on the ground, he gestured with his wand. **Rennervate**. **Confundo.** He watched as the man turned into his animagus form, and Harry quickly picked up and put him in the cage, shutting it firmly. **Revelio.** Waving his wand, Harry made sure all the protections were operational on the cage, before nodding to himself.

"Crouch and Pettigrew, captured. Now to get Sirius cleared," Harry murmured to himself. This would take more time. Especially as Dumbledore would try to block it. He had the perfect way to distract the old man. "Dobby, I need you to do a few things for me. I need potion ingredients. I also need you to tell McGonagall that you heard moaning coming from a trunk in Professor Moody's room while you were cleaning it."

"Dobby can do that, Harry Sir!" the elf declared, popping out of sight.

_There. Moody will be rescued. Now to do some brewing..._ Harry concentrated, and a potion lab appeared in the corner of the room.

HPHPHPHPHP

The next day, Harry left Gryffindor Tower. Dobby was keeping an eye on the two prisoners. Not that he was worried about _them_ so much as someone finding them. He'd taken a few hours the other night and brewed two Draughts of Living Death to put them into magical stasis. Word around the school was that Professor Moody was seen in the infirmary, so Harry didn't have to worry about him for the moment.

Every now and then he was stopped by well wishers, though there were some who glared at him. As he entered the great hall, Cedric stepped up towards him. "Hey, Harry! I wanted to say congratulations, I didn't get a chance yesterday."

"Oh, thank you, Cedric," Harry said, offering a hand, "I was surprised, honestly, I expected you or one of the others to get there first." As he spoke, he couldn't help but think about what had happened last time, of returning with Cedric's dead body.

This was better.

Shaking his hand, Cedric shook his head, "Honestly, I got distracted by an acromantula, the thing wouldn't leave me alone and was fast enough to dodge my spells."

"Ugh," Harry said, remembering the creature from last time, "I hate acromantulas. There's a whole colony in the Forbidden Forest."

Cedric paled, "There is?"

"Yeah. Hagrid had one as a pet," Harry said with a shudder, "I met it in my second year." As he spoke, he glanced to the head table, "I need to speak to a Professor, if you'll excuse me?"

"Oh, of course," Cedric agreed. "If you like, come sit with me for breakfast?"

"Sure!" Harry acknowledged, and moved to approach the head table. At least no one was sitting near the Headmaster, yet. Stopping in front of Dumbledore, Harry looked at the man's chin. "Professor Dumbledore? May we speak a moment?"

"Of course, Harry," Dumbledore told him, "How may I help you?"

Still not meeting the man's eyes, Harry said, "I had a strange dream last night, I thought I should tell you in case it was important. I heard Voldemort talking to someone, saying he was going to go free Grindelwald from prison for some reason. Isn't Grindelwald that Dark Lord you fought during World War II?"

Harry saw Dumbledore's eyes open wide, "You're sure?" He asked.

"That's what I heard. I didn't get much in the way of details as I woke up, but it sounded like he was going to do it soon, he mentioned wanting it done by August?" Harry told him.

Dumbledore frowned, and nodded, "All right. You go eat breakfast. I'll handle this," he said as he rose to his feet and left the table quickly.

As Harry walked over to the Hufflepuff table to sit near Cedric, he thought, _There. The Order isn't mobilized yet, and he won't trust anyone else to deal with Grindelwald anyway. Too many secrets might come out. He'll be out of the country for the next month at least, monitoring Grindelwald._ Harry went on to greet those at the table, "Hey, Cedric asked me to join him, hope you don't mind."

A few of the Hufflepuffs looked less than happy, including Ernie Macmillan and Zacharias Smith. Harry ignored them, even as Susan Bones said, "No, not at all. What was the Third Task like for you? Cedric told us his bit..."

"The worst part was probably the sphinx," Harry began. "Riddles are not my forte, I'm more of a muscle head," he joked as they began to talk.

He had always been too insular in school. It was time to change that.

HPHPHPHPHP

Harry carried his shrunk trunk in a pocket as he walked with Ron and Hermione towards the carriages. He had done a great deal of preparation, including showing Dobby the Chamber of Secrets and having him move Crouch and Pettigrew there so they couldn't be found. He would have to spend some time in the summer harvesting the basilisk's remains and selling them, it'd be worth a fair amount of gold.

Dumbledore had to leave the school for 'important matters', according to McGonagall's announcement. Harry would have to take steps and arrange for Sirius' trial while Dumbledore was away. He didn't think it'd be too difficult. Amelia Bones was a hard ass and a little too cautious at times, but she had been scrupulously honest.

Interacting with Ron and Hermione had been easier than Harry had thought it would be. He had to be careful not to say anything he shouldn't, but they were still themselves, if a little more innocent. He had fallen into the usual joke and teasing, though he'd slipped up once by pointing out an error in Hermione's Runes homework.

He'd had to 'admit' that he'd been studying Runes on the side in the hopes of testing into the class next year, as he was tired of Trelawney constantly predicting his demise. Ron had been disappointed, but had _definitely_ understood wanting to get away from that. Hermione had looked proud of him.

Soon, they arrived on the train and Harry claimed a compartment for them. Idly, he waved his wand at the door, locking the door. "So, looking forward to the summer?" asked Harry.

"Yes, my parents are planning on taking me to France," Hermione said to him with a smile. "I practiced my French a bit with the Beauxbatons students, I'm hoping to have more practice."

"Just going to relax," Ron said from his seat, digging into his pocket to pull out a small packet of Cauldron Cakes. "Play some Quidditch. You, Harry?"

"Oh, the usual. Stay at my relative's house," Harry said with a shrug, "Do a bit of reading, I don't get to read enough fun stuff at school." He wasn't particularly worried as he knew he could definitely handle his relatives now.

The train ride seemed to pass quickly. The only trouble they had was when Draco tried to enter the compartment, only to find the door locked. He couldn't figure out how to unlock it, as Harry had used a more complex locking spell than Colloportus. Eventually, they reached King's Cross, and Harry emerged from the train. Emerging onto the Muggle side of the station, he was grabbed painfully by his Uncle, "Come on, you. I don't want to stand around waiting," Vernon growled.

Harry sighed and pulled his arm away from Vernon, ignoring the glare. "Yes, Uncle," He told him as he followed him towards the car. When they reached the car and were out of sight, Vernon whirled to him, "What do you think you're doing, pulling away from me, you little freak?"

It was obvious he was about to go into one of his tirades. Harry shook his head and gestured with his hand. **Confundo.** The man's expression went slightly slack before clearing and he got into his car, Harry getting into the back seat, and drove away.

When they arrived at Privet Drive, Harry got out of the car. As they entered the house, he gestured again, reinforcing the Confundus and then when he saw Petunia and Dudley in the kitchen, doing the same to them. He'd have to reapply it from time to time, but they'd ignore him while he was here. Turning, he headed upstairs to his room and put his chest down, touching it with a finger and unshrinking it.

"Dobby?" Harry called.

The house elf appeared, "What may Dobby do for Harry Sir?"

"Please clean this room. I am going to write a few letters that I want you to deliver. You can find my godfather Sirius, right?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Harry Sir!" Dobby agreed as he started to pop around, snapping his fingers and cleaning the room.

"Good, I'm going to send you with a few letters. Sirius and Amelia Bones for sure," Harry said.

He had a trial to plan for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Normally, Voldemort would be a much harder fight, but he's basically in the body of a scaly snake-baby right now. It's not like he can dodge, and he probably can't even hold a wand very well. Thus why Harry had it so easily in this segment.
> 
> Hermione is noticing oddities. Harry is _a lot_ more confident and able to handle the public now. He wasn't one for public speaking before.
> 
> The Potters, as per canon, were very wealthy. I'm not going to have him have a family manor or such things, as the Potters seemed to be more down to earth than that. James and Lily lived in a cottage for gosh sake. I tend to view them as wealthier than the Malfoys, but not as wealthy as the Blacks. They weren't willing to flaunt that wealth.
> 
> Harry is more than willing to Confound his relatives to leave him alone. With how they act, can you blame him? As for Dobby, my view is he made his magic feel like Harry's when he did the Hover Charm in Chamber of Secrets. Otherwise, just popping around would have triggered the Trace.


	10. The Magicka Hero 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku disappears. Reappears over ten years later. Like magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that Masquerade is out, I thought I'd finish editing this and put it up. Now onto finishing up the next chapter of Respawn...

It had been a freak accident. His 'best friend' Kaachan had attacked him again, tormenting him for being quirkless as he often had for the past two years. Running from the other boy, chased by the popping of explosions and laughter, sheer bad luck had led Izuku near where a strange, red portal appeared and he'd found himself in basically Hell. Attacked on all sides by tiny demonic creatures that enjoyed tormenting him, the boy fled again.

He would have died if he hadn't found another portal and emerged elsewhere. All Izuku knew at the time was that he'd escaped the burning land, running through a forest for a short time before collapsing, only to wake up not long later in a bed. Sitting across from him was a tall, slender man with pointed ears who spoke in a strange language. Izuku tilted his head to the side, and said, "I don't understand you."

The man spoke again, frowning, then tried what sounded like a different language. Still confused, Izuku shrugged his shoulders, and the man sighed. He got up, walking out of the room, and Izuku started to worry. Did he do something wrong? Perhaps five minutes later, the man entered, and offered Izuku a glass vial. He mimed drinking it, handing it to Izuku.

Izuku drank the vial. And wished he hadn't. It tasted **rank**. Gagging, Izuku tried to control his gorge, and after a few moments, managed to recover. "That was horrible, why'd you have me drink that?"

It was only after the man responded that Izuku realized he'd spoken another language. "Because that potion taught you Cyrodilic, the most common language in this land. It is a very rare potion, known only to our Order. You may call me Anmaril," he said, "Can you tell me your name, child?"

"Izuku Midoriya," the child answered. "Where am I? I was home, then I fell through this strange red portal and ended up in this burning place where monsters tried to hurt me. I ran, and fell through another red portal and passed out..."

"You are on the Isle of Artaeum, the home of the Psijic Order," the strange man explained. "Portals have been opening up all over Tamriel, and we have been working to help close the portals, mostly in hard to reach places. Our mystics sensed a portal open up on an island to the west of Cyrodil, and we found you not far away. Once we'd closed the portal, we took you here to help you recover."

"Th-thank you, sir. Where am I? I've never heard of the Psijic Order, or Tamriel? Can I go back home?" Izuku asked.

"I'm not sure, honestly," Anmaril said. "When we examined you to heal you, we found you subtly different from one native to Tamriel. Our guess is you come from another land, connected to ours only through Oblivion. If so, finding your home will be difficult."

"Oblivion?" Izuku asked, eyes watering as he tried to not cry.

"The burning land you found yourself in was one of the planes of Oblivion. Think of them as other, magical worlds where powerful beings of magic reside: some bad, some neutral, and a few good. At least to a degree."

"How did I end up there?" Izuku asked, before adding, "And magic? Magic exists? Is it like a quirk?"

"One of the Daedric Princes have attacked this land, and they've been opening a great many portals. I would guess that one of those portals was poorly aligned if you will and opened up in your land instead of Tamriel. You passed through it to Oblivion and through Oblivion, came here," Anmaril stated. "If so, finding your home could take time. Years, at the least. Oblivion is, after all, infinite. I don't know what a quirk is, but magic exists." The man lifted his hand, flames appearing in it, before he closed his hand to extinguish the flames.

"That is so cool!" Izuku said, watching in fascination. "Quirks are abilities people have; you're born with them. Some people can make objects float, or make things explode." His face fell, "I'm quirkless, though."

"Hrm. Perhaps some special ability the people of your world have?" Anmaril said before shrugging. "I would love to discuss it in the future, but for now, we have to decide what to do with you."

"Do with me?" Izuku asked.

"Yes, do we find a guardian for you, or do we foster you ourselves?" Anmaril explained, "It's rare for a child to be on Artaeum, but your situation is a special one, especially if we decide to help you return home. Being on hand could be useful for the research."

"C-can anyone learn magic?" Izuku asked hesitantly, "I'd love to do that, it looks cool." And he might be able to become a hero if he can learn and get home.

"Yes, anyone may learn magic. Some are better at it than others, due to being smarter. Some races of man or mer are better at it than others due to innate capability as well; we Altmer tend to have more magicka than others, while the Bretons tend to be able to _use_ less magicka while casting spells, making their magic more efficient," Anmaril continued. "If you wish to learn magic, it'd be best if you stayed with the Order. We could teach you what you wish to learn, and you'd be here for the researchers. I'm sure some of our researchers would love to find the way back to your home, if only to say they've found a new land."

Nodding slowly, the six-year-old boy asked, "Who would take care of me?"

Anmaril considered. "If you are willing, I think I might like to take care of you. You seem to be an intelligent lad, and I'm one of the ones who found you. My wife and I have been wanting to adopt a child for a while."

Izuku blinked in surprise, "Really?" He looked confused, "Why would you want to adopt me?" He'd already started to internalize the abuse by his _best friend_.

Anmaril looked at the boy and sighed, "Because you're a good lad who seems intelligent, and you need help. And I and my wife Leynara want children?" He reached out and poked the boy's cheek, "You're a strange child, sometimes." His voice was amused. "Rest, and I'll go speak to the Masters."

"All right, sir," Izuku agreed.

TMHTMHTMHTMHTMH

Space seemed to warp and twist, and then a young, green-haired boy appeared.

Izuku Midoriya looked around. He was dressed strangely, a dark blue tunic with a narrow collar covering his upper body with and a pair of black trousers on his legs, both of some fine material. He wore a pair of black leather boots on his feet. It looked like something out of a Western Renaissance Faire. At his belt was a voluminous black bag.

He slowly started to walk, coming onto a busy street. Yes, he was back in Musutafu, just as predicted. Discovering a way to return him home had taken the Order a great deal of time and effort. Other than missing his mother, Izuku hadn't minded. He had learned a great deal in the years he had found himself on Tamriel, and was loved by his adopted parents. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, the young man gestured with one hand, releasing a hint of magicka. Unseen by all but him, a glowing strand of blue light appeared, and he turned to follow it.

He'd been gone for over a decade. It was time for him to return home.

TMHTMHTMHTMHTMH

Inko Midoriya leaned over her child's small bed, playing with her quietly. It had been a rough time after her Izuku disappeared. Hisashi had returned from his job overseas, and they had looked for him together, finding nothing. It was like he'd disappeared into thin air.

Eventually, she and Hisashi had decided to have another child. Not to replace him - they knew they never could - but because they really wanted another baby. Thus was born their little Akari.

"Don't worry, little one," she told the three year old girl. "Mommy's here," Inko crooned. There was a knock at the door, and she added, "Mommy'll be back." Slowly, she approached the door, opening it, "Who is it? What can I do for--" She stopped. Stared. It was like looking at a young Hisashi, though with her hair. It was _uncanny_. She stammered. "I-Izuku?"

"Hi, mom," Izuku said, offering a hesitant smile, his soft tenor voice unsure. "I'm back?"

"Izuku!" Inko rushed towards him, tears in her eyes, and clung to him, "Izuku! I...I, where were you? What happened? We looked for you, but couldn't find you anywhere."

"It's a long story, and not one easily believed," Izuku said with a sigh. "Can I come in?"

Inko blinked, "Izuku, it's your home too! Of course you can come in." She stepped back, gesturing, and he entered. "I should call your father..."

"Dad's here?" Izuku asked in surprise.

"Of course. When you disappeared, he rushed back and we looked for you. The police couldn't find anything, nor the private detective we hired." Her expression grew dark, "We did hear about what Katsuki was doing to you, though. You should have told me. I and Mitsuki argued for a time, but are still friends. Anyway, Hisashi asked his company to transfer him back to Japan. He eventually got a promotion, so works not far from us in Hosu. Takes the train. Now spill, what happened?"

"Well, like I said, it's hard to believe. I was running from Bakugou, when I saw this red portal appear in front of me. I couldn't stop in time and ended up elsewhere, this burning place, like a volcano. These small monster-like creatures attacked me and I ran, eventually finding another red portal and ran through it, hoping to escape." He shrugged, "I did. The portal put me somewhere else."

"Somewhere else?" Inko asked.

"Yes. That's the part that's hard to believe. Another place, another dimension. With other people in it. They don't have quirks there, but they have something else." He lifted his hand, and fire appeared on his hand, the fire flickering out to become ice then electricity. "Magic."

Inko stared at Izuku's hand a moment before gasping, "You have a quirk!"

"Not a quirk, mom. Magic. Trust me, it's different. It has nothing to do with the body, but instead manipulating magical energy around us." Izuku paused, "Earth has less magic than Tamriel, but it has a lot more than I expected, so I should be fine."

"Magic," Inko said, brow rising. "What else can you do then?" It sounded like she didn't believe him.

"Lots of things." Izuku gestured and a glowing blue sword appeared in his hand. It slowly faded. "Or maybe..." He gestured with his hand and slowly began to lift in the air, "This?"

Inko sat down quickly, "I...I don't know what to say," she said. "I want to believe you, but another dimension? Magic? It's a lot to take in, Izuku."

"Try experiencing it. Anyway, I ended up in another world, and a couple took care of me, and helped me learn. The group they were a part of were researchers, and started looking for a way to return me home. Granted, for some of that group, more due to it being an interesting project than anything else, but..." Izuku shrugged. "Anyway, we found a way. It's complicated, but it worked. And so here I am."

In the other room, they heard a child crying, and Inko blinked, "Oh, that's Akari," she told him, rushing to the other room and leaning over a small child's bed.

"Akari?" Izuku asked as he followed his mother, looking into the room from the hallway.

"I and Hisashi had a daughter a few years ago. Meet your sister, Akari Midoriya," Inko said proudly. "Akari, this is your older brother, Izuku." Regardless of the story he told that she still wasn't sure she _believed_ , she knew this was her son. She could _feel_ it. After a moment, she had a thought and rushed to say, "We weren't trying to replace you, we just..."

Izuku's features were full of wonder as he approached Inko and Akari, "Hello there, little one. I'm your brother. It's nice to meet you." He gestured with a hand and small floating lights began to revolve over the crib. He smiled as Akari started to laugh. Glancing towards her, Izuku blinked at Inko, "Why would I think you were trying to replace me? I'm _glad_ to have a sister, mom. I wasn't trying to replace you when Anmaril and Leynara adopted me."

Inko relaxed. She smiled at him, before saying, "Tell me more about this 'magic' of yours. And these two who adopted you," she told him.

"Well, it can do a lot," Izuku began. "I focused on Restoration as I know healing quirks are rare, as well as Alteration and Conjuration. I know just enough Destruction and Illusion magic to be useful."

"Destruction, Illusion, and Restoration seem obvious. Alteration and Conjuration?" Inko wonders.

"Alteration does just that, alters the properties of objects and manipulate the environment. It lets you make your skin tougher, breathe underwater, lessen the weight of an object to carry it more easily, and more. Oh!" Izuku grinned and held out his hand. It glowed a light green, and a baby bottle on the table floated into his hand, as he offered it to Inko, "It also lets you do that."

Inko blinked, "You can duplicate my quirk?" she asked.

"Yes. It's limited by my magicka, but I can carry heavy loads with it." With this, he continues, "As for Conjuration, that's basically summoning energies and beings from Oblivion."

"Oblivion?" Inko was frowning now. This sounded confusing.

"Um..." Izuku considered. "Think of a great big ocean of energy. Infinite, really. Our universe and others 'float' amidst that ocean. Within it but not a part of it, separated by a barrier. In that ocean are a multitude of pocket universes that are formed of the strange energy, smaller, in which beings live. That ocean itself is called Oblivion." He shrugged. "It's a metaphor, but close enough."

"And you can call call energy and creatures from this place?" Inko asked.

"That sword I summoned is called a Bound Sword," Izuku explained. "You summon energy from Oblivion and form it into the weapon. I can also call creatures, yes. I'd summon one of my usuals here, but they tend to be formed of elemental energies and I don't want to start a fire or make a mess."

"Yes, please don't do that," Inko said dryly.

"Well," Izuku said after a moment, "I'll need to speak to some authorities about, you know, being back. I don't think I should tell the whole truth, as they won't believe me. And if they did, it might be bad." He has thoughts, or fears, of human experimentation.

"What are you going to tell them?" Inko asked.

Izuku shrugged, "I figured I'd say that a villain hit me with a strange quirk and that I was always here, but no one could see or hear me, and didn't even sense me if I touched them. Even writing notes didn't work, anyone who saw the note didn't seem to register it consciously. I went to school and took food from the fridge and just lived and it finally wore off."

"That seems a little unlikely," Inko pointed out.

"Yes. But less unlikely than another world and magic, I think," Izuku said with a sigh. "There are really powerful invisibility quirks, so it's possible at least. Look at that hero from a few decades ago. The Shadow could walk through a crowd and people would move for him without seeing him. Even people watching by camera couldn't see him. I just don't want someone to believe me and try to experiment on me to figure out magic."

Inko shuddered, "I'd _like_ to say that's not likely, but I have to admit it could happen." She shrugged, "I suppose that's the safest option."

Izuku nodded his head and then rubbed his brow, "Anyway. I'll go get a hotel room," He suggested, looking at Inko, "I'll visit tomorrow, and we can go talk to the police or what have you."

"Wait. What?" Inko stared at him, "You aren't staying here? Your father will want to see you."

He blinked. "Are you sure? I mean," Izuku continued, "You haven't seen me in over a decade. I figured it'd be best to, I don't know, get reacquainted first."

"Izuku," Inko began, frowning, "You are our _son_. Yes, this whole thing is strange. Even after what I've seen, I don't know if I can believe what you said about magic and other worlds. But that doesn't change who you are. I want you to stay."

After a moment's thought, Izuku nodded slowly, "All right," he told her. "Where do I stay?"

"Your old room is still free, we kept it as it was for a long while. A few years ago, we turned it into a guest room," Inko said, a few tears in her eyes.

"That can work," Izuku acknowledged. He considered, "I'll have to unpack a few things, just don't touch them, all right? Some of my things are sensitive."

"I'll be careful," Inko assured him.

Izuku turned and walked down the hall, opening the door to his room. It looked just as it had before, sans all the toys and merchandise he'd had. He sighed as he walked in, shutting the door behind him. He had a lot to do, but could rest for the night. Gesturing with one hand, a red-orange portal appeared and a dremora stepped through. "I'm glad you could arrive, I was worried. Jabal, can you please bring me the waystone, so I may prepare it for use?"

"Of course," the figure said, "Anything else you need, sir?"

"Not right now. I'll probably want my alchemical and enchanting equipment later, but that will keep," Izuku said with a shrug.

The dremora disappeared through the portal, returning with a large stone about two feet in height, covered with runes. "Put it in the corner of the closet, thank you," Izuku said. Once the stone was placed, he watched the dremora leave and then knelt, putting a hand to the waystone and channeled magicka into it to activate it. It would make casting a spell to return to his room far easier and he wouldn't have to keep renewing a Mark spell.

Then, for the first time in a decade, Izuku Midoriya lay down on his old bed and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if Izuku speaks a bit well for a child, but he's smart and I find it hard to write like a six year old. :) Thus why he wasn't one for long.
> 
> Izuku is, yes, an Elder Scrolls Mage. I've seen a few D&D Wizard Izukus and wanted something like it. I thought integrating some Elder Scrolls lore would be fun. He will be very powerful, but more in a versatility sense. He doesn't have the sheer power of All Might or Todoroki. Most of his Destruction spells are actually relatively low-key, the equivalent of Apprentice-level or below spells like Flames or Firebolt rather than the huge ones like Fireball or Fire Storm. He specializes in Restoration and Alteration, as he loves the utility and support (and those schools don't get enough love in the games, I mean, Fortify would in a real setting be insane, let alone Paralyze or Sleep). Also Conjuration, as he kinda needs that to possibly visit Tamriel again.
> 
> I am going to be using pretty much all magic mentioned in the various Elder Scrolls games. Now, this doesn’t mean Izuku will have access to all of it. For instance, he isn't a Dragonborn, and hasn't trained for the decades necessary to learn the thu'um. Nor can he use tonal manipulation. But simply because one game got rid of a spell doesn't mean it doesn't still exist. For instance, as shown, Izuku can create portals and teleportation beacons such as those used in the Transitus Network or Wayshrines. The waystone is like a permanent "Mark" spell, also decreasing the magicka cost to recall to almost nothing. I will also have him do things that mages can do in the lore that aren't seen in the game. Simple stuff like cleaning spells and so on. Cantrips, to use the D&D term. He is pretty much a prototypical Elder Scrolls Mage, having been studying over a decade, so he knows Alchemy and Enchanting, too, though he refuses to use Black Soul Gems for obvious reasons.
> 
> The reason Izuku ended up on Tamriel is a faulty portal during the Oblivion Crisis. With the number of portals opening up, one going haywire? Sure, why not. McGuffin at its finest.
> 
> Yes, Izuku has a dremora butler, ala Skyrim. But he doesn't 'carry' stuff but will take it away to be stored. No game mechanical foo here. Why? Because it's cool, and lets him have access to alchemy and enchanting equipment without weirdness.


	11. Sword-Sister 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Chamber of Secrets yields more than is obvious, when the Sword of Gryffindor wakes up. She isn't very happy with how her new 'brother' is treated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> " _Mind Speech between Harry and Annwyl_ "  
> " **Spell Name**!"  
>  _Thoughts_

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office, watching the boy leave for the second time. Things had not gone as he had thought they would, but they had worked out well enough anyway. His eyes fell upon the Sword of Gryffindor, and he moved to place it in a display case, closing the glass carefully. Walking towards Fawkes, the old man stroked the phoenix, "He is learning. Harry was willing to act to save Miss Weasley in spite of the dangers. We need him to be self-sacrificing. It's sad, but necessary." He didn't sound terribly upset at the prospect, in spite of his words.

The phoenix pecked Dumbledore's finger and flamed away, obviously not agreeing with this sentiment. The old man sighed, "He'll come around." Unnoticed by the old man, the Sorting Hap turned slightly, its peak falling as its strange magical gaze fell upon the sword. A slow pulsing could be seen along the blade's length, visible only to those who could see magic.

It was waking up, thanks to the courage of a young boy.

 _I don't think your plans will go as you wish,_ the Sorting Hat thought, amused. _Not when she awakens._

HPHPHPHPHP

Harry trudged into his room at Privet Drive. Just as he'd expected, the trip home was full of Vernon's tirades, and he was not looking forward to the summer. His uncle was still upset about his failed dinner party last year. They'd already locked up his trunk, though he'd managed to save a few books and some parchment so he could do at least some of his summer homework. Putting the books down on the floor by his bed, he sat down, sighing. For a time, he worried, darkly thinking about what had happened at school that year. Part of him still wondered how Dumbledore had failed to figure out that the monster was a basilisk.

Suddenly, he noticed something resting on the table by the bed. A familiar-looking sword. Harry blinked slowly, staring. What was _that_ doing there? He slowly reached out his hand and clasped the hilt. A flush of warmth filled him, much like what had happened when he'd been chosen by his wand. He heard a girl's voice in his head, words a low alto, " _Well, finally. It took you long enough to notice me._ "

"What's going on?" Harry asked, a bit unsure about the situation. "Who are you?"

" _Isn't it obvious? You drew me from the Hat. You performed a brave deed worthy of me. That was enough to wake me up._ " Harry slowly put the sword down beside him on the bed, and he heard, " _Sorry, now that you've bonded to me, I can talk to you whether you're holding me or not._ "

"Do you have a name?" Harry asked hesitantly. This was right out of a story. A talking sword?

" _Father used to call me Annwyl,_ " the sword answered.

"Okay. Nice to meet you, Annwyl. And father?" he said, feeling stupid for talking to a sword.

" _You would call my father Gryffindor. You don't have to speak, you know. All you have to do is want me to hear them, and I can hear your thoughts. It's a pleasure to truly meet you, Harry,_ " Annwyl thought to him.

" _Thank you, Annwyl. So what are you doing here? Weren't you in Dumbledore's office?_ " Harry responded in his head.

" _I am not Dumbledore's sword. I was Gryffindor's. Now I am yours. I go where you go,_ " she explained.

" _I, uh, can't carry around a sword all the time._ " A sudden image of him stabbing Draco in the groin appeared in his head. Hey, he's a boy. " _No matter how fun it might be._ "

"That's all right." The voice wasn't in his head! Turning, he saw a beautiful girl who appeared to be in her twenties sitting at the foot of his bed. She wore an old-fashioned red dress, more of a gown, and had beautiful silver-blond hair and ruby-red eyes. "As you can see, I don't have to be a sword." Her lips quirked into a smile.

Jaw dropping, Harry stared a long moment. "I don't think that helps. The Dursleys wouldn't like you being here. They hate _me_ enough as it is. Someone else here would drive them crazy."

"You make things so _difficult_ ," chided Annwyl with some amusement. "You're probably right though. I heard from the Sorting Hat that your home life was troubled. It's one reason he brought me to you; he'd hoped I'd wake up and could help you. I can be more than a sword, you know. I can become any bladed weapon, even one as small as a quill knife. I can also become a wand, of course."

"Wait, you can become a wand?" Harry asked, looking at Annwyl curiously.

"Of course. You felt it when I bonded to you, didn't you?" she asked. Annwyl offered her hand to him and Harry took it, gently holding it. Her form flared into silver sparks and shrunk down and he was holding a silver wand with a red ruby at its base. " _Like so. You'll find I work quite well for you, or we wouldn't have bonded at all._ "

" _This is so cool!_ " Harry began. " _What happens if I drop you, or someone takes you?_ "

" _I will return to you. Even if you find yourself disarmed, I can appear in your hand or wherever I wish near you,_ " Annwyl answered.

" _Can you change your appearance? Silver and ruby makes a wand stand out, you know,_ " Harry asked.

" _You really are demanding,_ " sighed Annwyl. Slowly, the silver became a dark brown wood with intricate carvings along its length. The ruby disappeared. " _There. Can I at least keep the carvings?_ "

" _Of course,_ " Harry answered. " _I can always say I purchased another wand and asked for custom work. Does Ollivander do that?_ " He wondered after a moment.

" _If he doesn't, others do, I'm sure. Just be vague about where you got me,_ " Annwyl answered. " _One thing you should be aware of is I don't have what you people call 'The Trace' on me. I'd like to see them try to apply it to me! So you can use magic without worry. At least, if there's no other detection charms around here._ "

" _Really! I'm surprised. A House Elf did magic here and I got blamed for it,_ " Harry told her.

" _He probably made his magic look like your own. The Trace is based on an older magic that is the basis for spells like the Taboo,_ " Annwyl answered.

" _How do you know so much, if you've been asleep?_ " Harry wondered.

" _I know everything that Gryffindor knew. I also..._ " Annwyl trailed off, " _...understand that which Hogwarts knows. And as you might guess, Hogwarts knows a lot, thanks to her link with each Headmaster. Just as I'm bound to you, I'm bound to Hogwarts._ "

Brow furrowing in thought, Harry asked, " _So Hogwarts basically learns everything each Headmaster knows, because of their link to the school, and you can access that knowledge?_ "

Annwyl turned into the silver-haired girl again, releasing his hand as she sat back down, "Exactly! Aren't I smart?"

Harry couldn't help but laugh, "I suppose you are." He paused. "Could you teach me, maybe? I know I'm not the smartest person, but after the past two years, I could use the help..."

"You're a lot smarter than you believe you are. You hold yourself back an awful lot, you know?" Annwyl said to him. "I _know_. I can't read your mind unless you allow me to, but I get..." She tried to think about how to describe it, "...let's say the shape of your mind from the bonding. You're actually very bright, but you don't apply yourself for some reason."

Harry slumped his shoulders, "I guess you're right. I learned to keep my head down when living here. Standing out just made the Dursleys hate me more, and it's hard to get out of that habit at school. Plus, everyone always stares at me for something my mum and dad likely did."

"Let's start with this, then. What electives did you choose for next year?" Annwyl asked.

"Care of Magical Creatures and Divination," Harry answered with a shrug.

"Ignoring Care for a moment, why Divination? You don't have the Sight," came Annwyl's response.

"It's what Ron was taking, and, well," Harry was suddenly embarrassed, "He said it was an easy class."

"Do you really think you need easy classes, with what you've been dealing with the past two years?" Annwyl asked with a wry smile, "Think, brother dear. Arithmancy is useful in many endeavors. So are Ancient Runes."

"Brother?" Harry asked, focusing on that first.

"Well, yes. I'm too young to be your mother, but too old to date you," Annwyl said without batting an eye, smirking at the young boy's blush. "Besides, sisters get to tease brothers, and that's fun."

"Aren't you a thousand years old, or something like that?" Harry asked dryly.

"Shush, you. Besides, I'm a sword. I might be a person, but I don't age like one," Annwyl said with another smile. "Keep it up and I'll send a few girls love letters and sign your name." She paused, "I might do that anyway. It could be fun."

"Please, don't," Harry said with a shudder. "I doubt any girl would care about me, rather than "The Boy Who Lived", anyway."

"They never will if you don't get to know them," Annwyl pointed out. "I bet more than you think would care if you let them." After a moment, she continued, "Okay, first thing you need to do is write a letter to your Head of House telling her you're changing your electives. You want Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Care of Magic Creatures. I really wish they still had a class on magic theory and rituals. They folded some magic theory into Arithmancy and Charms, but not enough. I'll have to give lessons on that, myself. I'd suggest dropping Care of Magic Creatures, but I know you want a class with your friend, Ron."

Wrinkling his nose, Harry said dryly, "Yes, Mistress. Anything else, Mistress?" as he half-copied Dobby's speech.

"You're a snarky little git, aren't you?" Annwyl said approvingly. "I can work with that. You don't need Divination or Muggle Studies, you know, so you need at least one of those classes. If you truly want to push yourself to excel and want me to help, you want the other one as well."

Harry shrugged, "As long as you help out if I need it, I'm willing to try them," he admitted.

"Don't try. Do." Annwyl said, causing Harry to break into a laugh. "What?"

"You don't realize, do you? You kind of quoted a movie. This little green alien talking to his student," Harry explained.

"I am too cute to be a little green alien," Annwyl huffed. "Just for that, you wait. I'll get you back."

"And how will you do that?" Harry asked dryly.

"I'm not sure. But I'm sure I'll think of _something_ ," Annwyl said with a smirk. "Now, onto something else. The Sorting Hat told me your life here was hard. How does your family treat you?"

"Relatives. They're my relatives, not family," Harry said with a sigh. "And..." He trailed off. "...not good," is what he settled upon.

"That's vague." Pointing a finger at Harry, Annwyl said, "I need details, Harry, if I'm going to help you."

"I didn't know my name until I went to primary. Until then, it was just 'freak' or 'boy'," Harry began. Once he started to speak, it was almost like he couldn't stop talking. "Until I went to Hogwarts, my bedroom was the cupboard under the stairs. That's where my Hogwarts letter was addressed." He rubbed his brow, sounding tired, "I never got enough food, though they didn't exactly starve me. I got most of the scraps. All my clothes were Dudley's hand-me-downs and even now, the only good clothes I have are my school clothes. I'm worried if I get normal clothes, they'll realize I have normal money and try to take it. I do pretty much all the chores in the house, though my aunt cooks sometimes." He shrugged at Annwyl. "They don't really physically abuse me much, but my aunt's tried to hit me with a frying pan a few times, and my Uncle does slap me around some." He took a deep breath, "I guess, they just don't love me and even hate me; that's it in a nutshell."

Annwyl's face turned stony as she listened to Harry's words, and by the end, her hand was clenched so hard her knuckled were white. "And Dumbledore sends you back here? Did you tell him?"

"I tried, once, at the end of my first year. Asked if I could stay at Hogwarts or live somewhere else. I didn't get to go into detail, he just gave that smile of his and said that I needed to come back, that it was the safest place for me. I gave up trying to convince him at that point, he didn't even listen," Harry said with a sigh.

"Father would be _appalled_. So would Uncle," murmured Annwyl. "Auntie would just kill them..." As she spoke, she considered, "All right, there are two options. Do you want the violent option or the subtle option? I lean towards violent simply because I'm pissed, but the subtle is probably better."

"Er, well, what are the options? Can you go into detail?" Harry wondered.

"The violent option is you go down there after I turn into a sword, and you threaten them. The issue is they might react violently. It might be worth it, to see them afraid of you for once and you can take care of this immediately." Annwyl's voice was full of rancor. "The subtle option would be for you to walk around the house with me in your pocket, so I can look around and make sure there's no extra charms to detect magic. Once we're sure of that, I teach you a charm that will make let you touch their minds and make them ignore you. You'd live here, but they wouldn't bother you. That would take longer, as you'd have to learn a complex charm."

Harry _really_ wanted to choose the first option. But there's a reason the Sorting Hat considered putting him in Slytherin. "All right, I choose the more subtle option. It seems safer," Harry said.

"I'm a little disappointed, but that's probably the smarter choice," Annwyl told him. She offered her hand and when he took it, she turned into a pair of scissors. Harry blinked at her, " _Well, I guess scissors have blades, technically._ " he thought at her as he stuck them in his pocket. " _I just have to wander the house?_ "

" _Yes,_ " Annwyl answered. " _I don't 'see' like you do in this form, I see through magic. I can also see other magics. I can already sense strong defensive charms on this property, including one or two that worry me. None are directed at detecting magic from the occupants, though. Let's look around so we can get you safe._ "

" _Okay,_ " Harry agreed as he went down the hallway, looking into each room briefly. Thankfully, the Dursleys were downstairs, so he didn't get spotted near their bedrooms. Heading into the bathroom, he looked around, then went downstairs to the ground floor. "Did you want me to make dinner, Uncle Vernon?" He asked this as an excuse to look around the living room.

Vernon glared at him, "No. Go back upstairs, we're ordering out today. You aren't getting dinner tonight, as we had to go to London to pick you up."

"All right, sir," Harry said quietly and turned towards the hallway. He peeked into the kitchen and then turned, heading up the stairs to his room. " _The only places I couldn't check is the attic and the cupboard,_ " he told her.

" _Actually, you were close enough to both that I could see if there were spells present and there weren't. Remember, I'm not seeing with eyes, but through magic. Walls aren't that important,_ " Annwyl explained. " _So now I teach you a charm._ "

He felt her turn into a wand in his pocket and he drew the wand. " _What charm is it?_ " Harry asked.

" _The Confundus charm. It lets you confuse a person's mind in various ways. You can use it to implant the suggestion that they ignore you,_ " Annwyl explained. " _It will likely be very difficult for you at your age, but I'm sure you can learn it._."

" _Okay, tell me how,_ " Harry said to her.

" _You're a demanding little brother, aren't you? All right, let me take control of your arm. I can't use your magic, but I can show you the proper movement to use. The incantation is 'Confundo', and you move the wand like this._ " It was an odd sensation, as he felt his arm move on its own, doing a hook-like motion in the air in front of him. " _As you cast it, you have to have a very strong idea in your mind of what you want them to do. In this case, focus on them ignoring you no matter what._."

" _How do I practice? I doubt I'll get it right the first time,_ " Harry thought.

" _It works on animals and won't hurt them. You could ask your owl, or go into the garden and find a mouse or snake and practice on one of them,_ " Annwyl told him.

Harry took one look at Hedwig and said, hesitantly, " _I think if I tried it on Hedwig, she'd kill me._ "

" _Ooh, Gryffindor owl? I approve!_ " Annwyl thought at him. " _Garden creature it is then. Even an insect would work, really. You can even confound magical objects, though that really doesn't matter in this case and it's more complicated._ "

" _I'll do that, then,_ " Harry concluded. " _In fact..._ " He looked around his room and saw a spider web in the corner. And a spider. " _Will a spider work?_ " he wondered as he pointed his wand at the spider, making the same hooking gesture that Annwyl showed him. He imagined the spider hopping onto the nearby desk. " **Confundo.** " Nothing happened.

" _It will. And don't be disappointed. If you'd done it on your first try, I'd have probably fainted,_ " Annwyl told him. " _You're very young to learn this spell._ "

" _I'll keep practicing,_ " Harry decided, and spent nearly half the night focused on trying to confound the spider. Finally, he went to bed when Annwyl told him he needed his rest.

He fell asleep with Annwyl sitting beside him, fingers running through his hair gently. It was probably the first time anyone had comforted him like that since his mother and father died.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got this idea from a Reddit Prompt. The idea of a living weapon is a fun one. I didn't want it to be a love interest, so thought "doting older sister who is way into messing with her adopted brother's life" was more fun. :) I foresee her trying to set Harry up with all sorts of girls. Basically, a shipper on deck, mostly to tease him. "Hey, isn't she cute? So what if she's Slytherin, she seems nice." "What about Angelina? Yes, she's older than you, so what? I _know_ you like her, you think about her often enough after Quidditch games. Why are you blushing?"
> 
> It's a Trope-arrific work. The only real bashing will be Dumbledore, who I'm taking the 'Any means to the end' vibe. I won't say 'Greater Good' as Dumbledore wouldn't be dumb enough to quote Grindelwald to people. :P
> 
> At the start, Annwyl is more assertive. She's an adult, and Harry's a twelve year old kid who isn't the most confident. That'll change. She can't do magic herself, after all, and her body is a normal human body. She's basically going to be a mentor figure.
> 
> (Fixed a name error in the text. This comes from editing two stories at once. ;p)


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